Two Border Patrol agents rushing to help capture some suspected illegal immigrants were killed Thursday when their SUV entered a marked railroad crossing and was struck by a freight train.
The crash happened at about 6 a.m. MST in a rural farming area near Interstate 8 and the town of Gila Bend, about 85 miles southwest of Phoenix.
The agents — Eduardo Rojas Jr. and Hector Clark — were trying to position themselves on a road north of some other agents who were trying to capture a group of suspected illegal immigrants, said agent Kenneth Quillin, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Yuma sector.
The suspects were on foot, and none of them have been arrested, Quillin said. "We do see groups (of illegal immigrants) on a regular basis traveling through this area."
The railroad crossing where the wreck occurred is marked but does not have railroad crossing arms, he said.
The Union Pacific train with 75 cars was westbound after leaving Phoenix. It was going about 62 mph when it hit the SUV, pushing it about a half-mile down the tracks.
Before the collision, the train engineers spotted the SUV on the access road and "sounded a horn a quarter-mile" before the crossing, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said at an afternoon news conference.
Union Pacific said in a statement its crew had no warning that the SUV would turn in front of the train. It did not elaborate.
Arpaio declined to speculate on what might have caus
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