The SUV with 25 people hit by a large craft on Tuesday morning and killing 13 people was recently crossed from Mexico, possibly due to a breach in the boundary wall, federal officials said Wednesday.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the recording of a ten-foot violation in the border fence near the Gordon’s Well exit of Interstate 8 showed that the SUV was one of two vehicles leaving that morning.
“Initial investigation into the origin of the vehicles indicates a possible link with the above-mentioned intrusion on the boundary wall,” Gregory Bovino, chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector, said in a news release. “People smugglers have proven time and time again that they respect few people. Those who may be illegally considering crossing the border should dwell on the dangers that all too often end in tragedy; tragedies that our border patrol agents and first responders unfortunately know very well. ”
Several of the 25 people plugged into the Ford Expedition were thrown out of the vehicle by the force of the vehicle, Omar Watson, chief of the California Highway Patrol, said Tuesday. Everyone involved was killed or injured, Watson said.
An ICE official said on Tuesday that the agency had launched an investigation into human trafficking.
Macario Mora, a spokeswoman for the Yuma and El Centro sector of Custom and Border Protection, told The Times in a statement that the agency’s staff did not pursue or follow the vehicle during the crash, but on the scene responded to the request. of the Sheriff’s Department of Imperial County.
“CBP personnel were not involved in the accident,” Mora said.
At least ten of the dead were Mexican citizens, said Roberto Velasco Álvarez, who heads the North American Department of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North America.
“We continue to work closely with the authorities to assist the Mexican people who have been killed and injured,” Velasco said on Twitter. “We express our sincere condolences and reaffirm our commitment to the families of people who are losing their lives.”
When Elizabeth Strater, spokeswoman for United Farm Workers, heard of the crash, her heart sank. She thought of previous accidents with farm workers, where employers had packed workers into unsafe vehicles.
The UFW took to Twitter on Tuesday for a bus crash that killed 19 farm workers in 1974, and another that killed 13 tomato pickers in Fresno County in 1999. The organization initially thought those involved in Tuesday’s crash could be farm workers, but evidence from the scene convinced them otherwise.
“We did think, based on geography, that the probability existed that it was farm worker transportation,” Strater said. “When we first realized it was not a bus or a minibus, it started to change.”
Strater also looked at the junk photos and noticed that something was missing: lunch boxes.
“It certainly gives you no relief to think ‘Oh, these are not farm workers,'” she said.
Exact details of the incident are still unraveled on Wednesday. The large craft was traveling north on Highway 115 and the Ford was heading west on Norrish Road west at the time of the crash, Watson said. The semi-wide side of the smaller vehicle’s left side and push it to the shoulder.
“At this point, it is unknown whether or not the SUV stopped at the stop sign,” Watson said. “For reasons still to be investigated, the Ford Expedition entered the intersection in front of the large rig.”
In a clash report released late Tuesday, the CHP said the semi-driver, 68-year-old Joe Beltran, is from El Centro.
He sustained moderate injuries and was transported to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, along with three of the SUV passengers, according to CHP officials. The vehicle he was driving, a Peterbilt semi-car from 2011, belongs to Havens and Sons Trucking Inc. of El Centro. Multiple calls to the business are unanswered.
According to the report, the SUV driver, a 28-year-old man from Mexicali, just south of the border, died.
“At the moment it is unknown whether alcohol and drugs were a factor in the collision and whether seat belts were worn,” the report said.
Other injured passengers were treated at El Centro Regional Medical Center; Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District in Brawley, about 20 miles away; Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego and the UC San Diego Medical Center. At least one has already been fired. Others remain in a serious condition with a variety of traumatic injuries.
Dr. Shavonne Borchardt at El Centro Regional Medical Center said injuries range from fractures to life-threatening head and chest injuries.
Times writers Matt Ormseth, Andrea Castillo, Molly O’Toole and Maria La Ganga contributed to this report.