ROBSTOWN, Texas (AP) — Six migrants from El Salvador were killed and five critically injured when an SUV that earlier fled Texas police crashed into a drainage ditch, authorities said Wednesday.
Police in Robstown, 220 miles (354 kilometers) southwest of Houston, pursued the SUV late Tuesday but then stopped the chase because of rain and wet roads, according to Nueces County sheriff’s Capt. Daniel Lorberau.
Two injured people found walking along a road early Wednesday told authorities of the wreck.
The SUV was traveling as fast as 50 mph (80 kph) when it crashed, Lorberau said.
Several people had to be extricated and were taken to hospitals. In addition to the dead and critically injured, three others suffered lesser injuries.
Agents with the U.S. Border Patrol responded to the scene because the victims were undocumented workers from El Salvador, authorities said. No other details were immediately available.
It’s not clear how long after police discontinued the chase the wreck happened. Lorberau said the chase occurred about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
“Nobody knew anything about a wreck until about 4 or 4:30 this morning when Nueces County sheriff’s office got a call about a couple subjects walking down the road … who looked like they were injured,” he said Wednesday morning.
The incident is the latest involving undocumented migrants who died in road wrecks while being smuggled through Texas.
Five people died last June about 100 miles (161 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio when an SUV carrying 14 people crashed while being chased by Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies.
In 2015, six of 14 people packed into an SUV were killed when their vehicle wrecked as police gave chase about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Houston.
Fifteen people died in 2012 when their pickup veered off a highway southeast of San Antonio.
Several other crashes have occurred in recent years involving fewer victims.