Sharjah24 – AFP: At least 13 people were killed in southern California on Tuesday when a vehicle packed with passengers collided with a large truck in a "chaotic scene" close to the Mexico border, officials said.
The accident occurred when the SUV carrying more than two dozen people -- including minors -- and a semi-truck full of gravel crashed near El Centro, California, said Judy Cruz, an official from El Centro Regional Medical Center.
The area of the state is a thoroughfare for Mexican immigrants and farmworkers headed north towards California's rich agricultural center. At least 10 of the deceased victims were Mexican, according to the Mexican government.
"It's too early in the investigation to say what they were doing and where they were coming from," Omar Watson of the California Highway Patrol said during a Tuesday afternoon press briefing.
A total of 25 occupants, including a driver, were traveling in the SUV at the time of the crash, he told reporters earlier in the day.
"We had 12 fatalities on scene, one person passed over at the hospital, a total of 13 people passed away," he said. Among the dead was the SUV's 22-year-old driver.
However, the El Centro Regional Medical Center reported that 15 people had died and that the SUV contained 28 individuals.
The Ford Expedition SUV would have a legal capacity of about eight people, according to the carmaker's website.
Images of the collision showed the semi-truck crashed into the side of a burgundy-colored SUV that appeared to have California license plates.
According to Watson, the accident occurred when the SUV entered an intersection in front of the semi-truck, although it was not known whether the smaller vehicle had stopped at the stop sign.
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