MESSY TEXAS:
AFTER TEN PEOPLE DIED IN THE VAN/TRAIN CRUSH, ANOTHER 5 MEN ARE KILLED SAME
DAY. TEXAS LEADS THE NATION IN TRAFFIC DEATHS
BY FAR.
VAN SLAMS INTO
TOPPLED TANKER TRUCK CARRYING OIL, KILLING 5 MEN IN FIERY SOUTH TEXAS WRECK
January 15, 2015
ASHERTON, Texas — A van slammed into a toppled tanker
truck carrying oil, killing five men in a fiery crash Thursday on a South Texas
highway, officials said.
The tanker truck had rolled onto its side about 7 a.m.
after it struck a pickup that had slowed on U.S. 83 near Asherton, about 115
miles south of San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The van carrying the five men then struck the truck's tank, as did another
vehicle, said DPS Trooper Maria Loredo. Both the van and the other vehicle
burst into flames.
The men were traveling to their homes in Laredo when
they were killed, Loredo said. The driver of the other vehicle was airlifted to
a San Antonio hospital with severe burns.
Isaac Garcia, an oil field worker, said he was
delivering some pipe when he came across the wreck.
"There were just flames all over the place,"
he said. "It took seconds for it to light up the way it did."
Garcia said it was the second accident he has seen in
that spot.
"You've got to be real cautious on that road,"
he said. "With wet conditions and oil mixed with mud (coming off
18-wheelers), it's just meant for accidents to happen."
