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Truck crash in Texas kills 11 suspected illegal immigrants

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The wreckage of a pickup truck that crashed into a tree near Goliad, Texas - killing 13 and injuring 10 - is pictured in this July 23, 2012 handout photo. REUTERS/Texas Department of Public Safety/Handout.

The wreckage of a pickup truck that crashed into a tree near Goliad, Texas - killing 13 and injuring 10 - is pictured in this July 23, 2012 handout photo.

Credit: Reuters/Texas Department of Public Safety/Handout.

EDINBURG, Texas | Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:54pm EDT

EDINBURG, Texas (Reuters) - A pickup truck jammed with suspected illegal immigrants crashed into a tree along a rural Texas highway on Sunday, killing 11 passengers and injuring 12 others, police said.

The one-vehicle crash on Highway 59 near Goliad, Texas, some 80 miles south of San Antonio near the Gulf of Mexico coastline, was the second fatal accident in the past three months that involved human smuggling in the region.

In April, nine of 17 illegal immigrants in a packed minivan were killed when the vehicle rolled over while being pursued by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the border with Mexico in Palmview.

In Sunday's fatal accident, police said the 23 people riding in the Ford pickup truck were suspected of being illegal immigrants.

The driver lost control and crashed into a tree, Louann Presas of the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Injured victims were transported to hospitals in Victoria, Corpus Christi and San Antonio, Presas said.

(Reporting By Jared Taylor,; Editing by Andrew Stern and Eric Beech)
U.S.
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Comments (10)
Texasoil wrote:
And this is the mentality of the immigrant we want?
The problem with illegal or legal immigrants from central America is they have no education. And by allowing them to come here we are creating a under class of people here in America. That is why or low income numbers are going up. An uneducated class of people grow quick.

We need immigrants but we need to pick which ones we want.

Jul 23, 2012 2:38am EDT  --  Report as abuse
TheLizardKing wrote:
So 23 illegals in a truck smack a tree, and the half that lived get a ride to the hospital, where we get to pick up the tab with our tax dollars. Just wonderful. Should’ve just picked them up and hauled them back over the border fence and let the Mexican government tend to their wounds.

Jul 23, 2012 3:41am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Wallace_Cleaver wrote:
I am calling for an immediate ban on all vehicles larger then a Fiat 500. This tragedy could have been prevented were it not for the large pickup truck capacity to kill 13 people, and injure 10. Will any politicans be calling for this ban? No, they will be attacking legal gunowners.

Jul 23, 2012 10:38am EDT  --  Report as abuse
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