Police: 13 killed when big rig hits SUV carrying 25 people

HOLTVILLE, Calif. ( AP) — Authorities are investigating whether human smuggling was involved after a crash Tuesday involving an SUV packed with 25 people and a tractor-trailer that left 13 people dead and bodies strewn across a roadway near the U.S. Mexico border.

Most of the dead were Mexicans, a Mexican official said.

When police arrived, some of the passengers were trying to crawl out of the crumpled 1997 Ford Expedition while others were wandering around the fields. The rig’s front end was pushed into the SUV’s left side and two empty trailers were jackknifed behind it.

Twelve people were found dead when first responders reached the two-lane highway, which winds through fields in the agricultural southeastern corner of California about 125 miles (201 kilometers) east of

San Diego. Another person died at a hospital, California Highway Patrol Chief Omar Watson said.

“It was a pretty chaotic scene,” said Watson, who also described it as “a very sad situation.”

Roberto Velasco, director of North American affairs for Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department, confirmed Tuesday on his Twitter account that at least 10 of those killed have been identified as Mexicans. No identities have been released.

The cause of the collision was unclear, authorities said, and it also was not immediately known why so many people were crammed into a vehicle built to hold eight people safely.

Watson said the SUV only had front seats — the middle and back seats had been removed. That would allow more people to fit into the vehicle but makes it even more unsafe.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the SUV was carrying migrants who had crossed the border, ferrying farmworkers to fields, or was being used for some other purpose.

“Special agents from Homeland Security Investigations San Diego responded ... and have initiated a human smuggling investigation,” the agency said in a statement, adding that other details weren’t being released.

Macario Mora, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, said agents were not pursing the SUV at the time of the crash, which was initially rumored. The immigration status of the passengers was unknown.

“It was an unusual number of people in an SUV, but we don’t know who they were,” Mora said.

The people in the vehicle ranged in age from 15 to 53 and were a mix of males and females, officials said. The 28-year-old driver was from Mexicali, Mexico, just across the border, and was among those killed. The 68-year-old driver of the big rig, who is from nearby El Centro, was hospitalized with moderate injuries.

The passengers’ injuries ranged from minor to severe and included fractures and head trauma. They were being cared for at several hospitals. One person was treated at a hospital and released.

The crash occurred around 6:15 a.m. at an intersection just outside Holtville, which dubs itself the world’s carrot capital and is about 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexico border. It was a sunny, clear morning and authorities said the tractor-trailer and its two empty containers were northbound on State Highway 115 when the SUV pulled in front of it from Norrish Road.

The Hot Springs newspaper’s Quote of the Day is so true: “There are many fine things which you mean to do someday, under what you think will be more favorable circumstances. But the only time that is yours is the present.” Grenville Kleiser, American author (1868-1953). Recently things I have waited to do were disrupted with thunder and lightning, when I could not use my typewriter or make telephone calls.

It was a surprise to see a photo and read the article about Clay Farrar who died Saturday. He was just on one of the news broadcasts stating that we should preserve the old Army and Navy General Hospital. This building has overlooked downtown Central Avenue in Hot Springs for years. The entire block has been removed, but once I attended Hot Springs Business College in that block, then worked for a law firm across from the hospital. As a member of a YWCA group, the Modernette Club, I met so many other working girls. We were asked to meet one evening a week and entertain the returning Korean patients sent here for the hot baths.

They had been in the cold and snowy weather so long that they had arthritis. When I look at old photographs I realize they were too young to have been in a war. Some would get out of their wheelchair to dance a slow tune with a girl. A bus usually brought two buses to deliver and to return them to the hospital.

Last week there was a paragraph about the Little Rock Nine. Sunday’s newspaper includes a photograph of a very pretty young girl, the daughter of Minnijean Brown Trickey, Spirit Tawfiq. Her family moved to the US in 1999, and in 2002 they moved to Little Rock. She was born and raised in Northern Ontario, Canada, on a farm. Her father is white. Her parents met in college.

It seems that most areas had more snow than we did in my area of Hot Springs, eight inches. Some cities had 16 or more inches of snow, and no vehicles moved for a week or more. Now the weather is warmer but tornadoes are possible across the South. The Arkansas National Guard brought a tanker and bottled water to Kirby. Glenwood was so cold there were many leaks and water outages.

Heavy snows caused disruptions along interstates in Arkansas and stopped traffic along many rural routes. Trucks are several days behind causing essential items to be in short supply for both humans and animals. One woman stated that truckers looking for alternate routes, took Highway 249 between I-40 and US 70, which runs through their farm. Two 18-wheelers were stuck overnight and when her father was making his morning circle, he came upon them. “So he and my husband, along with a county deputy, pulled them to US 70 with a tractor so they could be on their way.”

Ronald Thorson, 73, Bismarck, passed away recently. Services were incomplete and will be announced by Samuel L Vance & Sons Funeral Directors-Malvern.

Rocklyn “Rocky” Lynn Hughes, 67, Bismarck, was preceded in death by his wife, Kim Hughes, his parents, C L and Adgie Lambert Hughes, and a brother, Carlton. Surviving are a daughter, Laken Hughes, granddaughters. Services were in Arkadelphia followed by graveside service at DeRoche Cemetery, Bismarck.

George T Weatherford, 91, Hot Springs, passed away in Feb, and was buried in the Oma Cemetery. http://www. davis-smith.com.

Clifford Everett Ashley, 41, Mountain Pine, passed away at his home. He was preceded by grandparents, Samuel and Ruth Tolbert and Vernon and Helen Ashley. Survivors are his mother and step-father, Gwen Ashley and Johnny Love, Point Cedar, father, Clifford Ashley, Sr, Mountain Pine, sister, Angela Harris (Johnny), Wendy Ashley, step-sister and step-brother. Services will be held later. Welch Funeral Home

Gordon A “Jimmy” Powell, Hot Springs, formerly of Point Cedar, is survived by his wife, Rosie Martin Powell, daughter, Rebecca Stanard, son, Gordon Powell, Jr, son, Jeffrey Jones, two grandsons, greats. He was predeceased by his parents, Florence and Hiram Powell. He retired from Kaiser Aluminum in Ravenswood, West VA, served in the AR State Legislature and as a JP. He was President of the Point Cedar Fire Department. He and Rosie had moved to West Shores Retirement Home. Per his request, there will be no services. The immediate family will hold a remembrance later. Condolences http://www.caruthhale.com. He was 91 years of age.

DALLAS (AP) — The NIT is moving the entire 2021 event to Texas, taking the semifinals and championship game out of New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in the 83-year history of college basketball’s oldest postseason tournament.

The pandemic is also reducing the field to 16 teams from the usual 32, and all games are set for the Dallas area. The two venues are the University of North Texas in Denton and an arena in Frisco that is home to a G League team affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks.

First-round games will be played March 17-20, with the quarterfinals March 25. The semifinals are set for March 27, followed by the championship game the next day. Specific arenas for each round weren’t announced Monday.

The field for the NIT will be announced after the NCAA Tournament is set March 14.

The NIT champion has been crowned in New York every year since the tournament started in 1938. Earlier rounds normally are held at the venues of designated home teams.

Last year’s cancellation because of COVID-19 was the first in the event’s history. The Texas Longhorns won the most recent NIT in 2019.