32 packed in van that rolled off I-10; dozens hurt; 1 dead

By Dale Quinn and Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

One woman was killed, three men are in critical condition and dozens of others also were injured early Monday when a van loaded with illegal entrants tried to evade the Border Patrol and rolled on Interstate 10 west of Benson, officials said.

Indications are that most of the passengers are from Guatemala and Ecuador, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Vincent Picard. Picard originally reported one woman died at the scene and two men died on their way to the hospital, but officials Monday afternoon could not confirm the two additional deaths.

Three Guatemalan men were in critical condition Monday evening with head injuries, said Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul general in Phoenix.

The deceased was a 21-year-old woman from Guatemala, Padilla said.

Two smugglers were identified, and they will be referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office for charges, Picard said.

"We're still investigating, so I don't know if there's going to be more smugglers, but I know we've identified two: the driver and the guide," he said.

At least 14 of the 32 involved in the crash are Guatemalans, said Padilla, who went to three hospitals in Tucson to visit the injured and determine their nationalities.

Three or four had already been released and were in the custody of U.S. law enforcement, Padilla said. The others, not including the three men in critical condition, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were in stable condition. Three of the 14 are women, he said. None is a minor.

Four of the injured entrants are from Mexico, said Alejandro Ramos Cardoso, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Tucson. The four men are in stable condition in Tucson hospitals, he said.

The van was westbound on I-10 when it rolled just after 5 a.m. near Empirita Road, about 10 miles west of Benson, said Officer Quent Mehr, a Department of Public Safety spokesman.

Some of the illegal entrants ran from the crash scene, authorities said.