Three dead, 14 injured in failed human smuggling attempt

PENITAS - Fourteen Mexican nationals recovering at area hospitals may hold valuable information needed to track down the coyote who abandoned them after a wreck that killed three.

A Ford F-150 carrying more than 20 suspected illegal immigrants crashed just before 6:30 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of Expressway 83 and Española Drive in Peñitas.

The collision threw several of the truck's occupants from the vehicle and forced police to shut down the highway's westbound lanes for several hours.

But as federal authorities worked to track down a group of missing immigrants and local police reconstructed the crash scene, Peñitas police Sgt. Dave Harris was left to wonder at the tragedy.

"There were bodies all over the place," he said.

Police believe the immigrants crossed the Rio Grande early Thursday morning somewhere south of La Joya. Guided by a coyote, they were crammed side-by-side on their backs in the truck's bed as they made their way north.

Upon arriving at the expressway, the truck's driver cut out across the highway, where he collided with a Ford Expedition heading west.

The impact crushed the front of the SUV and ripped the right rear wheel off the truck, sending it reeling into a nearby light pole.

Two immigrants riding in the truck were killed during the collision, according to La Joya police spokesman Joe Cantu - one of the first officers on the scene. A third died moments after impact.

Cantu found 14 others in various states of injury upon arriving at the intersection.

"They didn't know what happened," he said. "One minute they were lying down in the back of the truck, and the next they were on the side of the road."

The condition of the Expedition's driver and passenger remains unclear, but police said neither was seriously injured.

Several of the truck's occupants - including the driver - are believed to have fled the scene shortly after the wreck. U.S. Border Patrol agents detained three of them within a mile of the crime scene, said Oscar Saldaña, a local spokesman for the agency.

As agents guided one illegal immigrant - a woman - into an awaiting detention van hours after the wreck, she struggled to look away from the bodies of three of her traveling companions, each sprawled dead before her under flapping yellow tarps.

They have been identified as Rogelio Castro Muro, 32, Hugo Murillo Servín, 25, and Ubaldo Castro Jacobo, 29.

Emergency responders took the remaining wounded immigrants to five area hospitals with injuries ranging from neck pain to broken backs. Three remained in grave condition Thursday night.

Agents hope to interview them once they recover, but authorities must wait until they are medically cleared, said Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"There's a certain time element to our investigation," she said. "But obviously we can't just storm the hospital."

Mexican consular officials, meanwhile, worked to determine where the survivors hail from and locate families of the deceased.

But the person who likely could offer the most in the way of explanation apparently got away, said Miriam Medel, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in McAllen.

"It takes us back to how coyotes really don't care about anybody but themselves," she said. "The driver is gone as usual."