Nine suspected illegal immigrants die in US crash

PHOENIX, Arizona, Aug 8 (Reuters) A sport utility vehicle packed with nearly two dozen suspected illegal immigrants overturned in southern Arizona yesterday, killing nine people, the US Border Patrol said.

Agent Veronica Lozano said the dead were among 22 passengers crammed into a Chevrolet Suburban that flipped over on a desert road near Yuma, Arizona, a few miles north of the Mexican border.

''The vehicle was attempting to avoid a Border Patrol checkpoint by driving along a dirt road, and the driver lost control,'' Lozano said.

Lozano said five people were pronounced dead at the scene, and four died later at a hospital in Yuma, 190 miles (305 km) southwest of Phoenix.

The Border Patrol was not immediately able to confirm the nationalities of the victims. Lozano said police think the vehicle was filled with illegal immigrants brought from Mexico by smugglers.

Car accidents involving illegal immigrants are increasingly common in Arizona, as smugglers, dubbed ''coyotes,'' try to avoid or outrun Border Patrol agents sent in greater numbers to secure the frontier with Mexico.

''This is another clear example of how the smugglers put immigrants' lives at danger,'' Lozano said.

REUTERS DH RK0514