13 Killed When Overloaded Pickup Truck Crashes

More than half of the nearly two dozen passengers who had crammed themselves into a pickup truck in rural Texas were killed Sunday when the vehicle blew a tire, veered off the highway, and crashed into two large trees, local authorities say.

The Associated Press reports that at least 13 of the passengers were killed and the rest injured in the single-vehicle accident. The passengers were riding in both the truck's cab and bed, according to NBC News.

Six of those who died were still inside the destroyed truck when emergency crews arrived at the scene, and several of those who survived have life-threatening injuries, according to reports.

A Texas Highway Patrol trooper who responded to the scene called the accident one of the worst fatalities he had seen in his 38 years as an officer and said that he had never seen that many people in one passenger vehicle.

The San Antonio Express-News reports that the man who says he was driving the super-duty pickup survived. At least two of those who died at the scene were young children. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were called to the scene, according to CNN.