KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com | Truck with immigrants falls Texas cliff; 18 hurt

Truck with immigrants falls Texas cliff; 18 hurt

Associated Press - November 25, 2009 4:55 PM ET

McALLEN, Texas (AP) - A truck carrying illegal immigrants from Guatemala and Mexico plummeted 45 feet off a south Texas cliff, injuring all 18 people aboard.

Authorities say the pickup truck went off the road yesterday and fell into a gravel pit near Alice, about 40 miles west of Corpus Christi.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Robert Vasquez says "you can't see the pit unless you know it's there."

Eleven people remain hospitalized today. Federal immigration officials say 2 of the truck's passengers are listed in critical condition, while another passenger, a boy, is in serious condition and believed to be partially paralyzed.

The others injured in the crash were treated at area hospitals and released to Border Patrol custody.

The driver, identified only as Patricio Rebollar (REH'-boh-yahr), has been charged with illegal immigrant smuggling involving death or serious injury.

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