13 dead and 10 injured in horrific Texas crash

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Authorities say a pickup truck has crashed in South Texas, killing at least 13 people in the vehicle and injuring 10 others.

Louann Presas, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, says the crash occurred about 7pm on Sunday near Berclair when the truck ran off the highway and crashed into some trees. 

Presas says all the victims were in the same Ford F-250 pickup.

At least 23 people were crammed into the bed and cab of the pickup truck when it veered off a highway and crashed into trees on Sunday evening in Berclair, about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio.

Border Patrol agents are assisting the Department of Public Safety in the investigation into the crash in Goliad County.

It was not clear if those involved were illegal immigrants.

The Department of Public Safety said early on Monday that two injured people died overnight at hospitals in Corpus Christi and San Antonio.

DPS dispatcher Cynthia Duffield says investigators are not sure if the driver survived. She had no information on names and ages of the victims.

State troopers and Goliad County sheriff’s investigators were investigating what prompted the single-vehicle crash and did not immediately know the names and ages of the victims. 

Gerald Bryant, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said they were various ages and that he personally saw two young children among the dead at the scene.

‘This is the most people I’ve seen in any passenger vehicle, and I’ve been an officer for 38 years,’ Bryant said, referring to the chaotic scene.

The white 2000 Ford F-250 pickup was heading north on U.S. 59 on Sunday evening when it traveled off the right side of the highway near the unincorporated community of Berclair in Goliad County and struck two large trees.

The 23 people were loaded inside both the truck’s cab and bed.

Six of those who died were still inside the truck when emergency crews arrived to find the mangled vehicle, Bryant said.

He said several of the surviving victims had life-threatening injuries. He did not have their official conditions but described them as ‘very serious’.

The injured were taken to various hospitals in San Antonio, Victoria and Corpus Christi. Berclair is about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio.

Border Patrol will assist with the investigation.

‘It’s unknown whether or not (the victims) were illegal, but it’s possible,’ Bryant said.

Crash investigators stayed at the scene into the late hours Sunday to assess the crash, which halted traffic on U.S. 59.

‘It’s been very chaotic here, and it’s very traumatic,’ Bryant told the San Antonio-Express News earlier from the scene. ‘It’s only first responders out here, and it’s very solemn.’

The truck is registered to a Houston driver, officials said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177536/13-dead-12-injured-horrific-Texas-crash-pickup-smashed-trees.html#ixzz21SG8Sxtf

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