The victims were riding in a pickup truck that was being chased by the police when it collided head-on with another pickup near Del Rio, Texas, the authorities said.
Eight immigrants were killed on Monday afternoon when a pickup truck they were riding in crashed head-on into another pickup during a police chase in southwestern Texas, the authorities said on Tuesday amid a deepening humanitarian crisis along the Mexican border. The accident occurred on U.S. Highway 277 about 30 miles north of the border city Del Rio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which said that the Dodge pickup with the immigrants had evaded Texas State Troopers before the crash. The authorities did not elaborate on what had led to the chase, but said the Dodge had caused a head-on collision with a Ford F-150. The eight passengers in the Dodge who were killed, all undocumented immigrants, died at the scene, according to the Department of Public Safety. The driver of the Ford and a child who was a passenger of that truck were hospitalized in stable condition, along with a ninth passenger of the Dodge pickup truck, according to a preliminary accident report.