Eight people were killed on a highway in the US state of Texas when a man suspected of smuggling migrants who was fleeing from police crashed there on Wednesday. He was carrying five other people in the car and collided head-on with a vehicle carrying two passengers, killing all involved. The AP agency reported about it with reference to the police.
The fleeing 21-year-old suspect crashed near the south Texas town of Batesville around 6:30 a.m. local time while trying to overtake a truck, state police said. He collided with another passenger vehicle which caught fire. It’s unclear how fast he was going at the time, but photos released by police showed both cars were completely destroyed.
Investigators did not immediately confirm whether the culprit of the accident was actually transporting migrants. Police spokesman Christopher Olivarez said only that some of the passengers were from Honduras and that the police would inform their families first. Dthe trooper in the other vehicle was from the state of Georgia.
According to AP, this would be the case about the deadliest crash involving migrants since March 2021, when 13 people died in California. Similar accidents have increased in recent years, which among other things led the federal border patrol, CBP, to announce new rules on chases this year to reduce the risk of fatal accidents. In recent years, local security forces have also been involved in these, which was also the case in Wednesday’s crash.
The suspect was being pursued near Batesville by county sheriff’s deputies, whose office declined to comment on the matter.
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