GEORGE WEST, Texas (AP) — A minivan attempting to overtake a vehicle in an overtaking restriction on a Texas highway collided head-on with an SUV, which was then hit from behind by another vehicle, authorities said. Six people died and five others were injured.
The crash happened around 6:20 p.m. Friday near George West, about 60 miles northwest of Corpus Christi, said Sgt. Guadalupe Casarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“It was a pretty drastic scene,” said Casarez.
The crash remained under investigation Monday, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. But the department said in a press release that a minivan traveling south on U.S. Highway 59 was trying to overtake an overtaking restriction and collided head-on with the northbound SUV. A sedan then crashed into the rear of the SUV.
The vehicle that passed was not hit in the crash, Casarez said.
The driver of the minivan, Xochitl Veronica Lopez, 39, of Houston, died at the scene, along with a minor passenger in the minivan, the department said.
The driver of the SUV, Salvador Almeda Mendoza, 47, of Ganado, Texas, was also killed along with two passengers, Ilda Briones Nieves, 58, and Honorio Lazo Navarro, 74, both of Ganado.
The sixth dead was a passenger in the sedan whose name has not been released.
Five other people were taken to a hospital with “non-disabling injuries,” the public safety department said.
Authorities so far don’t believe alcohol was a factor, Casarez said.
