An overloaded van crashed on a remote south Texas highway, killing at least 10 people and injuring 20 others.
The tragic collision was confirmed by Sgt. Nathan Brandley of the Texas Department of Public Safety, per People.
On Wednesday, August 4, the vehicle, which was carrying around 30 passengers, crashed around 4 PM on US 281 near Encino - ending the lives of the driver and at least nine passengers.
The driver had been speeding and eventually hit a utility pole before slamming into a stop sign.
Per a news release, the van "attempted to turn right at an unsafe speed and veered off the roadway, striking a metal utility pole and a stop sign."
Each of the 10 people who died in the crash was pronounced dead at the scene.
Around 20 survivors were promptly taken to various medical centers nearby - including McAllen Medical Center, Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg, Edinburg Regional Hospital, Corpus Christi Spohn Shoreline, and Spohn Kleberg in Kingsville.
They were reported as having serious to critical injuries, the LA Times reports.
An investigation with the Texas Department of Public Safety is currently underway.
According to the authorities, the vehicle was only designed to carry 15 passengers and was top-heavy when it eventually collapsed. The van was not being pursued at the time of the fatal incident.
The passengers, whose identities are currently being withheld, are believed to be migrants.
Encino is a small community of approximately 140 people about 2 miles south of the Falfurrias border patrol checkpoint, an inspection site for vehicles traveling across the border.
A rise in the number of migrants trying to cross the border has led to an increase in fatal crashes. The vehicles involved in these crashes typically carry people paying large amounts of money to be smuggled into the US.
The tragedy comes months after 13 people lost their lives when an SUV full of 25 migrants crashed into a semi-truck in Holtville, California, near the US-Mexico border on March 3.
Later that month, eight migrants died when the pickup truck they were traveling in collided with another vehicle as they were being pursued by the cops around 30 miles north of Del Rio, Texas.
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