Tractor-Trailer Crash Kills 4 on US-Mexico Bridge

by Brian A Kennedy | January 11, 2008 at 10:05 am

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Bad accident -- two tractor-trailers collided and burst into flames yesterday on a bridge between the US and Mexico. Four people were killed in the ensuing follow-up wrecks, and a key border crossing was shut down.

The collision on the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Texas triggered a chain-reaction accident with three other vehicles, said Lt. Lupe Salinas with the Pharr Police Department.

A pickup flipped off the bridge, killing three people. Another person died in a vehicle that struck one of the tractor-trailers. Six others were injured.

Pharr Emergency Management Coordinator Elsa Sanchez told The Associated Press the pickup truck had Texas license plates, and the two 18-wheelers and a minivan involved in the wreck appeared to have Mexican plates. Video Watch aftermath of fiery crash »

The accident happened around 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. ET). The bridge was closed for the rest of the evening, but Salinas said he expected it to reopen Friday morning.

"As far as we can tell, there is no damage," Salinas said, "but engineers will inspect it and let us know."

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The bridge is normally open from 6 a.m. until midnight and is closed overnight.

The 3.2-mile-long bridge connects U.S. 281 in Pharr, Texas, to the city of Reynosa in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, according to the city of Pharr's Web site. On an average day, the site says, 5,800 vehicles cross it.