At least 13 dead in Calif. crash

HOLTVILLE, Calif. – At least 13 people died after an SUV packed with more than two dozen passengers collided with a semitruck near the U.S.Mexican border Tuesday, according to California Highway Patrol officials.

California Highway Patrol Division Chief Omar Watson said the crash involved a big rig hauling two trailers and a Ford Expedition carrying 25 people. The vehicles collided before 6:15 a.m. PST near Holtville, about 50 miles west of Arizona and 10 miles north of the border.

“It would be premature for me to speculate or discuss what caused this collision. What we have to keep in mind is that 13 people died in this crash,” Watson said. “It’s a very sad situation.”

Twelve people died at the scene, including the SUV driver, and one died at a hospital, Watson said. There were children in the SUV, but none of them died, he said. The ages of the people injured range from 16 to 55, and the ages of the people who died ranged from 20 to 55, Watson said.

Several people were thrown from the SUV, and others “were able to pull themselves out of the vehicles,” Watson said. The older-model Ford Expedition should fit only six people.

“Obviously, that vehicle is not meant for that many people. It’s unfortunate that that number of people were put into that vehicle,” Watson said.

A watchdog agency on Tuesday again classified the 2020 census as being at high risk because of efforts last fall by the Trump administration to shorten the door-knocking and data-processing phases of the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident. The compressed time frame for data collection increased the risk of compromised data quality, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in its High-Risk Report. Last spring, the Census Bureau was forced to delay field operations because of the pandemic.