Nogales teen dies and 10 migrants are injured Friday (Nogales International)

Nogales teen dies and 10 migrants are injured Friday

By Denise Holley
Published Tuesday, November 11, 2008 8:38 AM MST

A young Nogales, Ariz., man lost his life Friday night, Nov. 7, when a pick up truck packed with 11 people overturned on South River Road.

The driver, Anthony Urbalejo, 19, was carrying suspected illegal immigrants in the cab and bed of the black 1998 Chevrolet truck, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Antonio Estrada.

U.S. Border Patrol agents tried to stop the vehicle on Kino Springs Drive at StateRoute 82, but it accelerated and sped east and then north, said Robert Daniels, BP public information officer.

Moments later, the agents discovered the pick-up overturned on the side of South River Road, about two miles north of State Route 82.

Urbalejo was trapped under the truck and not breathing, Daniels said.

Agents called for medical assistance and ambulances and fire departments from Nogales, Rio Rico and Tubac responded.

Two passengers, a man and a woman, were airlifted to a hospital in Tucson, Estrada said. The woman was reportedly hemorrhaging from a head wound.

CHCH

Ground ambulances took eight people to Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital, where they were treated and released, Daniels said. Seven were repatriated to Mexico and agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the other person, alleged to be the guide who brought the people across the border.

The Criminal Investigations Division of the sheriff’s office has begun an investigation.

A day later

About 24 hours later, Border Patrol agents chased another vehicle along the same road, Daniels said. The agents spotted the 2000 silver Chevrolet Impala near the Kino Springs Country Club about 7:30 p.m. Saturday night and thought it looked suspicious. The vehicle headed to the highway and turned north on South River Road.

Agents had lost sight of the Chevy until they found it smashed into a boulder on the roadside, Daniels said. The driver had fled and left four bundles of marijuana in the vehicle.

A total of 264 pounds of marijuana were recovered from the Chevy, located near milepost 1.5, deputies said. The Santa Cruz Metro Task Force will investigate the incident.