4 dead in car crash near US-Mexico border amid migrant smuggling operation

Houston, July 1

Four people were killed and three others seriously injured in a car crash involving a migrant smuggling operation near the US-Mexico border in Texas, police said.

"The driver suspected of human smuggling evaded law enforcement and crashed into a commercial vehicle," Xinhua news agency quoted the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as saying late THursday.

"Troopers are investigating a fatal crash on IH35 in Encinal, Texas," the DPS said.

The town is about 64 km north of the US-Mexico border.

The incident occurred after four men had been charged following the death of 53 migrants packed in a sweltering 18-wheeler in San Antonio, a major city in Texas.

The tractor trailer with fake plate was carrying 67 migrants when it was found on Monday.

There was no sign of water in the refrigerated tractor-trailer and no visible working air conditioning unit.

The US Customs and Border Protection said it encountered a record number of 239,416 people along the border in May.