ZAVALA COUNTY, Texas(DDN) – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is investigating a fatal four-vehicle incident on US Highway 57 that killed five persons and left others hospitalized.
Around 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday, the accident occurred on the Nueces River Bridge at mile marker 420 east of La Pryor.
According to DPS officers, a white 2006 Ford van carrying a trailer approached the bridge from the east on US 57. A second 2006 white Ford van carrying a trailer was following the Ford van and lost control of its speed, colliding with it from behind.
The incident caused a white 2012 Ford F-150 pickup truck to stop on the bridge. Multiple passengers in the vans then sought to notify a white 2019 Freightliner truck tractor semi-trailer approaching from the west to stop due to the bridge’s icy road conditions.
The truck tractor driver attempted to avoid the accident by driving in the middle of the road, but he lost control and collided with all three cars.
Three Ford van passengers, Pedro Urquiza, 63, Estanislao Jaimes, 60, and Diana Lopez, 43, all from Dallas, Texas, and the driver of the Ford pickup, Jose Artemio Rodriguez, 48, of Fort Worth, Texas, were discovered at the bottom of the bridge and proclaimed dead. Maria Pineda, 60, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was pronounced dead following the collision with the Freightliner.
Seven passengers were sent to the Uvalde Memorial Hospital for treatment. The driver of the Freightliner declined medical treatment. The investigation is underway.
Reference: Deadly four vehicle crash along Highway 57 leaves five dead, several injured
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