At least 8 undocumented immigrants die in a crash in Texas after a police chase

The Dodge truck was packed: 10 people were traveling in total, all were undocumented immigrants in the United States.

The driver was fleeing police when he crashed head-on into another vehicle

near the Texas border town of Del Rio.

In total, eight people died in the accident, authorities said.

The chase began when the driver of the red Dodge 

refused to stop for a traffic violation

, although authorities did not specify which one.

Shortly thereafter, while the police were on their heels, the vehicle crashed squarely into a Ford F-150 pickup.

The two occupants of the Ford, a child who was a passenger and an adult who was driving, survived the accident and

were taken to a nearby hospital

, as well as one of the passengers in the Dodge truck, who has not been identified. 

Scene of a crash on a highway in Texas, near the city of Del Rio, where 8 migrants died on March 15, 2021. AP / AP

The driver of the Dodge, Sebastián Tovar, 24, also survived.

In fact, he

tried to flee the scene of the accident on foot

, but was arrested shortly after.

He is now in federal custody and state authorities will press additional charges against him, said a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

All those killed

were Mexican citizens between the ages of 18 and 20

, Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said.

Seven were men and one was female, he clarified.

"I came to work to help my mother," says a young survivor of the accident in California

March 7, 202101: 46

[The number of minors in Border Patrol custody is growing.

Many denounce the conditions of their confinement]

The crash comes weeks after one of the worst road accidents on the border, when the vehicle carrying more than two dozen undocumented immigrants who had just crossed into the United States on a rural road in Southern California crashed into a truck, leaving 13 dead and 12 injured.

In a statement Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted that the recent surge in children crossing alone from the Mexican border represents a challenge.

Mayorkas pointed out that the number of arrests at the border has increased steadily since last April.

But, he added, "this is not new," citing previous increases in border crossings in 2019 and 2014.

With information from The Associated Press.