Eight dead as vehicle strikes bus queue outside migrant shelter

The death toll from a vehicle hitting a crowd of people waiting for a bus outside a migrant shelter in Texas has risen to eight, police said.

Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval confirmed the eighth death, but said police were unsure whether Sunday morning’s collision in the border city was deliberate.

The driver was taken to hospital after the collision, which injured at least 10 others, with police waiting to arrest him.

Mr Sandoval said: “It could be intoxication, it could be an accident or it could be intentional. In order for us to find out exactly what happened, we have to eliminate the other two.

Shelter director Victor Maldonado said the SUV ran up the curb, flipped and continued moving for about 200 feet (60 metres). Some people walking on the sidewalk about 30 feet (nine metres) from the main group were also hit – witnesses detaining the driver as he tried to run away.

He said most of the victims were Venezuelan men waiting for the bus to return to downtown Brownsville after having spent the night at the overnight shelter.

A surge in the number of migrants prompted Brownsville commissioners to indefinitely extend a declaration of emergency on Thursday.

“We don’t want them wandering around outside,” city commissioner Pedro Cardenas said after the crash. “So, we’re trying to make sure they’re as comfortable as they can be so they don’t have to go out and look for anywhere else.”

Brownsville has long been an epicentre for migration across the US-Mexico border.

The Ozanam shelter is the only overnight shelter in the city and manages the release of thousands of migrants from federal custody.