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10 dead after overcrowded van carrying migrants crashes in South Texas. Here's what we know.

Authorities on Thursday were still investigating a van crash in remote southern Texas, which killed at least 10 people and injured 20 others and shared worrying parallels to other crashes near the U.S.-Mexico border.

The crash occurred Wednesday afternoon at a highway intersection in Encino, Texas, when the top-heavy van tipped over after the driver lost control on a curve, said Brooks County Sheriff Urbino Martinez.

The van was designed to hold 15 passengers, but a suspected 29 migrants who entered the country illegally were inside, he said.

The crash comes less than half a year since two other deadly crashes killed multiple migrants in cramped vehicles on highways near the border.

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More on the crash: At least 10 dead after van carrying migrants crashes in South Texas, authorities say

Texas Department of Public Safety officers pick up debris near a vehicle where multiple people died after the van carrying migrants tipped over just south of the Brooks County community of Encino on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Encino, Texas.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers pick up debris near a vehicle where multiple people died after the van carrying migrants tipped over just south of the Brooks County community of Encino on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Encino, Texas.

What happened in the Texas van crash?

The crash occurred shortly after 4 p.m. at an intersection of U.S. 281 and Business 281. A witness reportedly saw a Ford van speeding along that highway when the driver tried making a turn, and the van crashed into a metal utility pole, Texas Highway Patrol Staff Lt. Christopher Olivarez said in a statement.

The driver and nine passengers died at the site, while 20 others in the van were transported to area hospitals with serious to critical injuries, said Sgt. Nathan Brandley of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Encino is a community of about 140 residents roughly 2 miles south of the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint. DPS troopers were investigating the crash, Olivarez said. The van was not being pursued, Martinez said.

The deceased's identities were being withheld until relatives can be notified, Olivarez said. No information about the van, including where it was registered or who owned it, was immediately released.

Other major crashes near border earlier this year

In March, 13 people, including the driver, were killed when an SUV packed with at least 25 migrants who authorities said entered the country illegally crashed into a semi-truck in Southern California.

Many in the SUV were Mexican and Guatemalan nationals, and a U.S. resident, Jose Cruz Noguez, has since been charged in connection to a smuggling operation that led to the crash.

The crash occurred 10 miles north of the border near Holtville, California.

Later that month, another crash in the border town of Del Rio, Texas, led to the deaths of eight migrants in an overcrowded pickup truck. The crash occurred following a police chase when the pickup truck driver refused to pull over for a traffic violation and crashed into another truck.

The people killed were all Mexican nationals between the ages of 18 and 20, according to Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez. The driver faces a possible life sentence after pleading guilty to multiple federal charges on May 24. No sentencing date has been set.

Report says deadly crashes on the rise near border

The Dallas Morning News last month detailed the rise of deadly crashes along the border this year as young drivers, many migrants themselves, have increasingly taken risks to carry packed cars to their destinations.

“They’re not very experienced. They’re scared,” Victor M. Manjarrez Jr., director of the Center for Law & Human Behavior at the University of Texas at El Paso told the newspaper. “That becomes a very bad mix and an opportunity for bad things to happen.”

In many cases, the crashes are the result of high-speed chases with authorities and are tied to smuggling operations, the Morning News reported.

Drivers are often recruited for as little as $100 per person and follow scout vehicles. “They’re told, ‘If you’re caught, it’ll go bad for you,’” Manjarrez told the newspaper.

There is no centralized data on the crashes, but multiple Texas sheriffs told the Morning News this year has seen an uptick amid the surge in migrants crossing the border illegally.

The Department of Justice sued the state of Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott last Friday for an executive order that directed state troopers to pull over vehicles suspected of carrying migrants in federal custody. The order was blocked Wednesday by a federal judge.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 10 killed in South Texas van crash near Encino believed to be migrants