Eight people were killed in southwest Texas on Wednesday morning when a driver suspected of human smuggling tried to elude law enforcement officers and slammed head-on into an S.U.V., the Texas Department of Public Safety said. The crash occurred just after 6:30 a.m. on US-57 near Batesville, some 80 miles southwest of San Antonio, the department said in a statement. The driver, a 21-year-old from Houston, was killed, as were the five passengers, some of whom were from Honduras, the department said. The driver and passenger of the S.U.V., both from Georgia, were also killed, according to the authorities, who withheld the names of the dead pending notification of their families. A spokeswoman for the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office declined to provide further information about the crash on Wednesday, noting that the Texas Department of Public Safety had taken over the investigation.

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Persons: “ Organizations: Texas Department of Public Safety, Honda, Zavala County Sheriff’s Office, Zavala County Sheriff’s Locations: Texas, Batesville, San Antonio, Zavala County, Houston, Honduras, Georgia