Authorities in Imperial County, near the border with Mexico, say a deadly crash involving an SUV and a semi truck has left at least 14 people dead. According to the local newspaper, Calexico Chronicle, children were involved.
It happened just before 7 a.m. in the small city of Holtville, a rural, agricultural center about 125 miles away from San Diego and 60 miles west of Arizona.
Officials believe the SUV, which was reportedly carrying at least 25 people inside, hit a big rig full of gravel.
It's still not clear what led up to the crash, but several people were pronounced dead at the scene; another died on the way to El Centro Medical Center.
According to El Centro Medical Center, which held a press conference at 11:15 a.m.:
- 28 passengers were in the SUV that collided with the semi-truck
- 14 passengers were pronounced dead on the scene
- 4 passengers were flown from the scene to Desert Hospital
- 7 patients arrived at El Centro Medical Center; one later died in the emergency room
CHP later said 12 people died on the scene and the the SUV was carrying 25 passengers.*
*Note*: Right now the number of deaths and people in the car are still being reported; there is a discrepancy between the numbers that CHP and the hospital are reporting. We will update when we get more information.
Dr. Adolphe Edward, the hospital's chief executive, says some of those victims are now in the hospital's intensive care unit:
"The patients are, of course, going through a little bit of a difficult time, as you can imagine. This was a major accident."
California Border Patrol
said via Twitter their agents responded to the crash but were "not involved in the accident."
MORE ABOUT THE INCIDENT:
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