EN ROUTE

SUV in Crash That Killed 13 People Entered California Through Border Fence Hole

Two cars passed through the cutout in the barrier, but one caught fire, and its 19 passengers piled into the second vehicle.

The SUV involved in a Tuesday crash that killed 13 of its 25 passengers entered California through a hole cut in the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Wednesday. Two cars, a Chevy Suburban and a Ford Expedition, drove through the gap Tuesday morning, but the Suburban, originally carrying 19 people, caught fire, according to Gregory Bovino, chief of Border Patrol in El Centro, California, where the crash occurred. The Suburban’s passengers then piled into the Expedition, which would go on to collide with a tractor-trailer. Border Patrol agents were not pursuing the car at the time of the crash. Of the 13 victims, 10 have been identified as Mexican citizens. Their ages ranged from 15 to 53.