14 DAY TRIAL // A truck carrying undocumented immigrants has crashed at Naval Air Station Kingsville in Texas on Wednesday, leaving at least six people dead and several others injured.
Some sources report that as many as seven people have lost their lives on the spot. Guatemala and Honduras natives were on a pick-up truck that smashed into a barrier at Kingsville at approximately 11 p.m.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not releasing the names, ages and nationalities of the victims at this point.
The victims were being chased by a police car when they crashed into the protective barrier in a 1996 GMC Sierra pickup.
They passed two guards at a checkpoint while driving at 70 mph, before the collision. 15 people were being transported in the extended-cab and in the back of the truck when the guards put up said barrier to stop them from entering the base.
“There were 10 people in crew cab and five in the back,” Naval Air Station Kingsville public affairs officer Jon Gagne clarifies.
“When the truck passed the guard at a high speed, he then alerted the guard at the second checkpoint to deploy the protective barriers to prevent the truck from accessing the base. [...] The truck plowed right into it,” he notes.
According to WPTV, two people suffered serious injuries and have been attended by doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial.
The driver has survived the crash and is being treated at San Antonio Military Medical Center, while other injured passengers have been taken to a facility in Corpus Christi, Texas Department of Public Safety Senior Cpl. Charlie Ramirez says.
“I can tell you the force of the impact was so great that it broke a natural gas line, broke a water line and severed an electrical cable,” Capt. Mark McLaughlin details.