A collision between an overloaded van and a truck left 13 dead and several injured on Tuesday, March 2, in southern California, United States, near the border with Mexico.
Roberto Velasco Álvarez, Director General for North America at Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations, said that the fatalities included 10 Mexicans.
Through Twitter, Velasco Álvarez explained that they will continue in communication with authorities of the Mexican consulate in Calexico, California, in order to assist deceased and injured Mexicans.
According to the American media ‘Los Angeles Times’, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol Center office stated that the crashed truck was a Ford Expedition SUV model and was carrying about 25 people, however, the vehicle is built to seven or eight passengers.
It was also said by the authorities that the people who were inside the vehicle were between 16 and 55 years old. 12 people died in the accident and another died at the El Centro Regional Medical Center.
Injuries ranged from mild to severe and included fractures and head trauma.
Six people were being treated at El Centro Regional Medical Center. Four were airlifted to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where one person is in critical condition and the others are in stable condition, spokesman Todd Burke said.
The 22-year-old driver of the Ford Expedition was from Mexicali, Mexico, and was killed in the event. On the other hand, the driver of the large truck, 69, from El Centro, was hospitalized with moderate injuries.
The accident occurred around 6:15 a.m. at an intersection outside the agricultural community of Holtville, which calls itself the carrot capital of the world.
Authorities said the tractor-trailer and its two empty containers were heading north on State Highway 115 when the SUV pulled up in front of it from Norrish Road.
It is unclear if the truck passed a stop sign or stopped before entering the highway . It is not yet known how fast the tractor-trailer was traveling.
Omar Watson, head of the border division of the California Highway Patrol, explained in a conference that the age of the deceased ranges between 20 and 55 years; of the injured, the youngest is 16 years old and the oldest is 65 years old.