HOLTVILLE, Calif. (KABC) Thirteen people were killed and several others were seriously injured after an SUV carrying 25 people collided with a big rig in Imperial County Tuesday morning, according to officials.
The California Highway Patrol said over two dozen people were in a maroon 1997 Ford Expedition, which would typically seat eight to nine people legally, that collided with an empty tractor-trailer on Highway 115 at Norrish Road in Holtville located about 125 miles east of San Diego and about 15 miles north of the Mexico border.
CHP officials say at the intersection the SUV drove directly in the path of the big rig around 6:15 a.m. The 2011 Peterbilt truck struck the left side of the SUV, which appeared to have been pushed off the road. Investigators were trying to determine if the SUV first stopped at the stop sign before entering the intersection.
Authorities are investigating whether human smuggling was involved when an SUV packed with 25 people slammed into a tractor-trailer in a remote Imperial County desert, killing the driver and 12 passengers near the Mexican border.