At least 13 people were killed and many others were injured in a major tragic crash at the U.S.-Mexico border in California on Tuesday (March 2). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) opened an investigation into human smuggling activities.
At least 13 people were killed when an eight-passenger Ford Conquest SUV carrying 25 people and a semi-trailer truck carrying debris collided on a rural road near the U.S.-Mexico border at about 6:15 a.m. local Time Tuesday.
“San Diego Homeland Security Investigations agents responded to the incident” and “have launched a human smuggling investigation,” ICE said in a statement.
The bodies of the victims were scattered across the driveway after the accident. The vehicle involved in the accident was a 1997 Ford Expedition.
California Highway Patrol spokesman Jake Sanchez reported that the 22-year-old driver of the SUV was killed in the crash, and it was not immediately clear if any vehicle stopped before the truck struck the left side of the SUV.
The 69-year-old truck driver was treated at a hospital.
Fox News reports that when police arrived on the scene, they found some passengers trying to climb out of the SUV and others wandering around nearby farmland. the back seat of the SUV had been removed to accommodate additional passengers.
By law, the Ford Conquest SUV is allowed to hold up to eight people, but the car in question had 25 people inside, ranging in age from 15 to 53 years old.
Authorities said the California Highway Patrol found 12 people dead at the scene, another victim later died at a local hospital and eight other injured passengers were taken to local hospitals.
At least 10 of those killed in the crash were Mexican, according to the Mexican consulate, tweeted Roberto Velasco, director of North American affairs for Mexico’s foreign relations ministry.
Authorities are working to confirm the nationalities of the other three.
Velasco added, “We will continue to work closely with authorities to assist the deceased and injured Mexicans.”
As of early Wednesday, the immigration status of all passengers was unknown, authorities said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman Macario Mora noted that CBP agents were not on the SUV at the time of the accident.
Mora said, “There was an unusual number of people inside the SUV, but we don’t know who they are.”
Frank Borris, former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation, said that if 25 people were packed into a 1997 Ford Conquest SUV, it (the vehicle) could easily exceed the maximum payload limit of 2,000 pounds.
He added that the car would require longer stopping distances, delayed steering response and a potential overreaction to any type of high-speed lane change.
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