DEADLY CALIF. CRASH
A law enforcement officer works at the scene of a deadly crash Tuesday in Holtville, Calif. Authorities say a tractor-trailer crashed into an SUV carrying multiple people on a Southern California highway, killing at least 13 people and injuring others.
HOLTVILLE, Calif. — An SUV packed with 25 people pulled in front of an oncoming tractor-trailer on a two-lane highway cutting through farmland near the Mexican border early Tuesday, and 13 of them died in the resulting collision.
When police arrived some of the passengers were trying to crawl out of the crumpled 1997 Ford Expedition, the front end of the rig still pushing into its left side and two empty trailers jackknifed behind it. Other victims were wandering around the fields.
Twelve people were found dead when first responders reached the highway, which winds through fields in the southeastern corner of California about 125 miles east of San Diego. Another person died at a hospital, California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson said.
The injuries ranged from minor to severe and included fractures and head trauma. Six people were being treated at El Centro Regional Medical Center. Four were flown to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where one person was in critical condition and the others were stable, spokesman Todd Burke said.
The 22-year-old driver of the Ford Expedition was from Mexicali, Mexico, and was killed. The 68-year-old driver of the big rig, who is from El Centro, was hospitalized with moderate injuries.
The crash occurred about 6:15 a.m. at an intersection just outside the agricultural community of Holtville, which dubs itself the world’s carrot capital.
Authorities said the tractor-trailer and its two empty containers were northbound on State Highway 115 when the SUV pulled in front of it from Norrish Road. It’s not clear if the SUV ran a stop sign or had stopped before entering the highway. It’s not yet known how fast the tractor-trailer was traveling.
The deceased ranged in age from 20 to to 55. Among the injured, the youngest is 16 years old.
The investigation will look into why so many people were crammed into the Expedition, a vehicle built to hold only about eight people safely.
The speed limit for tractor-trailers on the highway is 55 mph, according to CHP Officer Jake Sanchez. The other road is also 55 mph for vehicles.
Officials were still working on identifying the dead and said they did not know if the SUV was carrying farm workers or migrants crossing into the country illegally. The Mexican consulate was assisting since so many people in the region live and work on both sides of the border.
The harvest of lettuce and other winter vegetable crops runs from November until March, when buses and SUVs carrying farmworkers are often rumbling down the rural roads to the fields in the early morning hours.
The area has also seen smugglers carrying in migrants in trucks and vehicles. Hundreds of migrants who died after crossing the border are buried in unmarked graves in Holtville’s cemetery on the edge of town.