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Austin (Texas): Tragedy strikes after eight people were killed Wednesday when the driver of a car suspected of transporting migrants for human trafficking fled from police and hit an oncoming vehicle on a highway in South Texas.
The state Department of Public Safety said the crash happened about 6:30 a.m. when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic tried to pass Zavala County Sheriff’s Office deputies and pass a semi-truck on the two-lane road. During this time, the Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox.
The driver and five passengers in the Civic died, according to DPS. Department spokesman Christopher Olivarez said in a statement that some of the passengers were from Honduras. Two people in the Equinox, who were from Georgia, also died.
Olivarez said the identities of those killed would first be released to their families. Wednesday’s crash near Batesville, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, is the latest fatal vehicle accident involving migrants, the highest death toll since 13 people were killed in a collision in remote Holtville, California, in March 2021. Is.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has tracked 106 deaths in Border Patrol vehicle activities from January 2010 to June of this year. There was an average of 3.5 deaths per year through 2019, but this increased in 2020. After which the authorities have developed a new policy for vehicle activities keeping in mind the increased security.
