Passengers driving down U.S. Highway 59 outside of Berclair early Monday morning found a closed road and a scene reminiscent of a horror movie, after a Sunday evening car accident left 13 dead and 10 injured.
As KHOU is reporting, a Houston-registered Ford F-250 was headed northbound when it hit two trees. The truck's transmission separated from the rest of the vehicle, and the passengers — women and men, adults, teenagers and children — scattered.
"In my 38 years as an officer this is one of the worst fatalities I have been to and I have never seen where we had that many in a vehicle," TxDOT spokesperson Gerald Bryant told KTRK.
The remote location of the crash added further complications, as the passengers had to be transported (some by helicopter) to hospitals in Beeville, San Antonio, Victoria and Corpus Christi.
Border Patrol officers were called in to assist, since some of the passengers only spoke Spanish. Some speculate that, based upon the mode of travel and the number of passengers, the truck was carrying illegal immigrants. Names have not yet been released.
The truck is registered to a yet-unnamed owner in Houston.
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