HOLTVILLE, Calif. — The SUV carrying 25 people that was struck by a big rig Tuesday morning, killing 13, had recently crossed into California from Mexico, possibly through a breach in the border wall, federal officials said Wednesday.
Surveillance footage of a 10-foot breach in the border fence near the Gordon’s Well exit of Interstate 8, showed that the SUV may have been one of two vehicles spotted leaving the area that morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“Initial investigation into the origins of the vehicles indicate a potential nexus to the aforementioned breach in the border wall,” Gregory Bovino, chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector, said in a news release. “Human smugglers have proven time and again they have little regard for human life. Those who may be contemplating crossing the border illegally should pause to think of the dangers that all too often end in tragedy; tragedies our Border Patrol agents and first responders are unfortunately very familiar with.”
Several of the 25 people crammed into the Ford Expedition were ejected from the vehicle into the road by the force of the impact, California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson said Tuesday. Everybody involved was either killed or injured, Watson said.
An ICE official said Tuesday that the agency had launched “a human smuggling investigation.”
Macario Mora, a spokesman for Custom and Border Protection’s Yuma and El Centro sectors, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times that the agency’s personnel weren’t chasing or following the vehicle at the time of the accident but had responded to the scene at the request of the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department.
“CBP personnel were not involved in the accident,” Mora said.
At least 10 of the dead were Mexican nationals, said Roberto Velasco Álvarez, who heads the North America Department for the Mexican foreign ministry.
“We continue in close collaboration with authorities with the aim of assisting the Mexican people killed and injured,” Velasco said on Twitter. “We offer our profound condolences and reaffirm our commitment to the families of the persons who lose their lives.”
When Elizabeth Strater, spokeswoman for the United Farm Workers, heard about the crash, her heart sank. She thought about past farmworker transit accidents, where employers packed workers into unsafe vehicles.
The UFW took to Twitter on Tuesday, citing a bus accident that killed 19 farmworkers in 1974 and another that killed 13 tomato pickers in Fresno County in 1999. Initially, Strater said, the organization thought those involved in Tuesday’s crash might have been farmworkers, but evidence from the scene persuaded them otherwise.
“We did think, based on geography, that there was a likelihood that it was farmworker transport,” Strater said. “Once we realized it wasn’t a bus or a van, that started to change.”
Strater also looked at the debris photos and noted something missing: lunch boxes.
“It certainly doesn’t give you any relief to think ‘Oh, it’s not farmworkers,’” she said.
Exact details of the incident were still being unraveled Wednesday. The big rig was traveling north on State Highway 115 and the Ford was heading west on Norrish Road at the time of the crash, Watson said. The semi broadsided the smaller vehicle’s left side and pushed 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 under investigation, the Ford Expedition entered the intersection in front of the big rig.”
In a collision report released late Tuesday, the CHP said the semi driver, 68-year-old Joe Beltran, was from El Centro.
He suffered moderate injuries and was airlifted to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, along with three of the SUV passengers, according to CHP officials. The vehicle he drove, a 2011 Peterbilt semi, belonged to Havens and Sons Trucking Inc. of El Centro. Multiple calls to the business were unanswered.
The report said the SUV driver, a 28-year-old from Mexicali, just south of the border, died.
“At this time it is unknown if alcohol and drugs were a factor in the collision and if 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 UC San Diego Medical Center. At least one has already been discharged. Others remain in serious condition with a variety of traumatic injuries.
Dr. Shavonne Borchardt at El Centro Regional Medical Center said injuries ranged from fractures to life-threatening head and chest injuries.
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(Los Angeles Times staff writers Matt Ormseth, Andrea Castillo, Molly O’Toole and Maria La Ganga contributed to this report.)
