PHOENIX, May 13 (UPI) -- Two U.S. Border Patrol agents pursuing suspected illegal immigrants were killed when their vehicle was struck by a freight train in Arizona, officials said.
A Border Patrol spokesman said Hector Clark, 39, and Edward Rojas, 34, were assisting other agents in the chase near Gila Bend Thursday when the Union Pacific train hit them as they crossed the tracks, the Los Angeles Times reported. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
The unmarked vehicle was struck broadside and pushed more than a half-mile before the train finally stopped, The Arizona Republic reported.
The train crew saw the vehicle driving on a frontage road by the tracks when it suddenly moved onto a private crossing in front of the fast-moving train, Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt said.
Kenneth Quillin, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, said Clark and Rojas were with a federally funded interagency task force formed to intercept marijuana runners.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a preliminary investigation indicated agents spotted a group of people traveling on foot near Gila Bend late Wednesday but waited until Thursday morning to act. Sheriff's deputies later arrested what is believed to be the same group of eight suspected illegal immigrants with about 315 pounds of marijuana near the crash site, Arpaio said in a statement.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expressed "our deepest sympathies" to the agents' families and friends.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer ordered flags be flown at half-staff.
"While we await details of how this tragedy happened," she said in a statement, "I ask that Arizonans join me in offering a prayer for these two agents and their friends and family."
