SONOITA, Ariz. — Eight illegal immigrants “stacked like wood” in the back of a sport utility vehicle were killed when the driver lost control on a remote southeastern Arizona highway, authorities said Sunday.
At least 27 men and women were in the vehicle traveling about four miles east of Sonoita when the vehicle rolled for an unknown reason shortly before midnight Saturday, said Officer Joy Craig of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Most of the passengers were ejected.
Authorities said all the victims are thought to be illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and perhaps Mexico.
Craig said the remote area where the crash happened is a route commonly used by those smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S.
“We see the people stacked like wood frequently,” she said. “If they had had the right number of people in there and they all had their seat belts on, they would have lived.”
Five survivors were airlifted to a Tucson hospital and 14 were transported to hospitals in Tucson and Sierra Vista. Eight men treated and released were in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol, said agency spokesman Omar Candelaria.
