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DPS: 9 dead, 10 hurt in accident on SR 79 south of Florence

Reported by: Deborah Stocks
Email: dstocks@abc15.com
Reported by: ABC15.com staff, wire reports
Last Update: 4/21/2009 3:01 pm
(The Arizona Daily Star)
(The Arizona Daily Star)
Video Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the footage from the scene

FLORENCE, AZ -- At least nine people were killed on an Arizona highway south of Phoenix Thursday, according to Department of Public Safety officer Carmen Figueroa.
 
Ten others were injured in the wreck along State Route 79, about 15 miles south of Florence.

Officials said 19 people were in a GMC Suburban when it went off the road about 7:45 a.m.

The SUV drove through a concrete wash, rolled over and landed on the roof, according to a report released by DPS Friday.

Investigators believe the person who was driving the vehicle survived the crash. They have not been able to interview him yet to confirm that.

All nine victims who died were 'foreign nationals' according to the report. It could be several days before family members of the people killed can be contacted.

Video RAW: DPS Lt. Mike Corbin discusses the fatal accident


Survivors were flown to hospitals in Phoenix and Tucson. Figueroa said all the victims were adults.

Two of the dead were women and the other seven were men, according to DPS spokesman Bart Graves.

At least three of the people injured were said to be in critical condition.

Judy Keane, a spokeswoman for Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, also confirmed two survivors were treated there but could not give any information about their condition.

At this time, the cause of the collision is unknown, but speed and driver inattention appear to be early indicators, according to the DPS report.

Thursday, witnesses told officers that the Suburban was traveling at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control and the vehicle went off the road.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident, according to Graves.

The Guatemalan Consul General in Phoenix, Oscar Padilla, said at least five of the survivors were from El Salvador and three from Mexico, and at least one of the dead was determined to be from Guatemala.
 
Four of the survivors, all of whom Padilla said were from El Salvador, were listed in good condition on Thursday at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix.
 
Two of three survivors taken to University Medical Center in Tucson remained in critical condition, and a third was listed in fair condition after surgery for a leg fracture, spokeswoman Darci Slaten said Friday. Padilla said two of the three at UMC were from Mexico.
 
Conditions of two other survivors at Maricopa Medical Center and one at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborne Hospital were not released. Padilla said one person at Maricopa Medical Center was from El Salvador and the patient at the Scottsdale hospital from Mexico.
 
"We're working very hard on this case," "It's a terrible, really terrible situation," said Padilla, the Guatemalan consul general. "If they are Guatemalans, we will do everything possible to repatriate them and return the dead home."



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