Thursday’s crash occurred at Interstate 35, about 40 miles north of Laredo, according to Lt. Chris Olivarez, a State Department spokesman for the South Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Four men were found dead on Interstate 35 in what is being investigated as an “attempted human trafficking”, according to a statement from Texas Highway Patrol Sgt. Eric Estrada. Estrada said that “a white Jeep SUV dodged the United States Border Patrol traveling north” on the I-35. The Jeep came out at high speed, losing control and closing behind a parked semi-trailer. The driver, a man who remains in critical condition and two male passengers were injured and taken to hospital, according to Estrada.
Two of the four men who died were from Guatemala, another from Mexico and one has not yet been identified, the sergeant said. The injured were from Guatemala, Mexico and the driver is from the United States. The driver was airlifted to a hospital, according to Olivarez. Early Wednesday at Palmview near McAllen, a single-vehicle crash involved a driver who was avoiding U.S. border patrol and lost control of the vehicle, Olivarez told CNN. Four occupants were thrown and two men were killed, according to Olivarez. A man and a woman were seriously injured in an immigrant smuggling case. U.S. Border Patrol Del Rio said Eagle Pass agents thwarted a smuggling attempt involving 10 people locked in a tractor-trailer, according to a tweet Wednesday from Chief Patrol Officer Jason D. Owens.
Monday’s tragedy also occurred on I-35 – a major north-south route in the central United States for traffic and trade from the southern border. The route is often exploited by smugglers at a time when record numbers of immigrants are being intercepted at the US-Mexico border. On Monday in San Antonio, about 120 miles north of I-35 from Encinal, 53 immigrants were killed in what the Homeland Security Officer called the deadliest human smuggling incident in U.S. history. A worker near the interstate called the San Antonio police after he found a tractor-trailer abandoned under the hot sun on a back road, with dozens of dead migrants inside. Some victims may be under 18 years old. “The floor of the trailer … was completely covered with bodies. It was completely covered with bodies,” police chief William McManus told CNN. “There were at least 10 bodies outside the trailer.” Authorities in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras have said they are working with the United States to find the people who died in San Antonio. More than a dozen people were found alive inside the tractor-trailer and were treated for heat-related conditions, authorities said. Four people were arrested for the incident of human trafficking. Homero Zamorano Jr., 45, originally from Brownsville but living in Pasadena, Texas, was arrested Wednesday on charges of allegedly involved in human trafficking resulting in death, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement. According to public records, Zamorano has a long criminal record dating back to the 1990s. Laredo Sector Border Patrol surveillance plans showed the tractor-trailer passing through an immigration checkpoint, according to the DOJ. The driver appeared to be wearing a black striped shirt and hat. Zamorano matched the driver in the surveillance video, the Justice Department said. CNN could not determine if he had a lawyer. Another suspect, 28-year-old Christian Martinez, was arrested in Palestine, Texas, on Tuesday and charged with conspiracy to smuggle undocumented migrants, resulting in his death, the Justice Department said. Two other men, Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez and Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao, have been charged with “illegal possession of an alien weapon in the United States,” according to criminal charges filed Monday. Authorities located the men after responding to the incident in a van, according to the affidavit. D’Luna-Mendez’s lawyer declined to comment. CNN contacted D’Luna-Bilbao’s lawyer for comment. CNN’s Rosa Flores contributed to this report.