5 Dead, Including 2 Children, in Crash in Texas: Officials

Stock photo of police tape. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

At least five people died, including two children, in a three-vehicle crash on Highway 59 near Victoria, Texas.

Sgt. Ruben Miguel, with the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the Click2Houston news station that the accident took place at around 10:30 a.m. on July 20.

A van traveling northbound was carrying 10 family members, Miguel said.

However, as it was entering the freeway, it clipped the side of an 18-wheeler, causing the van’s driver to lose control, according to the official.

The van then careened into oncoming traffic, hitting a pickup truck, he said.

Kevin Allen, a local fire official, said that one of the people got trapped in the van after it hit the truck.

“One of them was trapped and we did have to ... extricate one of the occupants out of the truck,” Allen told the news website.

Two people in the pickup truck were taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries, and the five people who died at the scene were identified as two males, two females, a boy, and a girl. They were all inside the van, the station reported.

The remaining five people in the van were taken to the hospital.

The Victoria Advocate reported that family members inside the van were traveling to the Gulf of Mexico for a cruise. They are from Brownsville, Texas.

The crash is being investigated by the Department of Public Safety.

The driver of the 18-wheeler was not injured in the crash.

According to USA Today, Miguel said the cause of the crash is still being investigated.

Crash Deaths in the United States

Tens of thousands of people are killed and millions injured each year from motor vehicle crashes, according to the CDC. The CDC says these deaths cost more than $380 million in direct medical costs.

Age-adjusted death rates for the 10 leading causes of death in the United States for the years 2016 and 2017. (CDC)

The major risk factors for crash deaths in the United States are not using seat belts, car seats, and booster seats (factors in over 9,500 crash deaths); drunk driving (a factor in more than 10,000 crash deaths); and speeding (contributing to more than 9,500 crash deaths).

According to 2017 data from the CDC, the 10 leading causes of death in the United States were: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease, and suicide.

These further break down as follows: the most common are unintentional poisoning deaths (58,335), followed by motor vehicle traffic deaths (40,327), and unintentional fall deaths in third place (34,673).

The total number of emergency department visits for unintentional injuries in the United States in 2017 was 30.8 million, according to the CDC.

The 10 leading causes accounted for 74 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2017.

Epoch Times reporter Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.