Update September 8th: After seeing police report we have a lot more questions, here.
Update June 11th: More details here plus further confirmation that the IRC was supplying refugee workers to Eurofresh. Also, the driver’s name is listed and it would appear he was also a refugee. No mention of whose van it was.
Related story June 8th: Ten illegal aliens died in a van crash in Arizona yesterday. The van carried at least 22 aliens. The crash occurred when the driver lost control and the van rolled over, here.
Update later on June 7th: AP is reporting that a 6th refugee has died from injuries sustained in the accident, here.
Update June 7th: Refugee agencies take up collection for refugee families—presumably for those directly effected by the tragedy.
….and critically injuring at least 5 others. The Burundian refugees* had been resettled by one of the Top Ten government contractors—the International Rescue Committee (the outfit whose CEO has a salary and benefits package of $400,000). I would like to know if IRC rented this van and was it overloaded? I thought these vans only seated 15? How about seat belts?
From the Arizona Daily Star:
Five people from Tucson died Wednesday when the passenger van they were in rolled over on Interstate 10 east of Benson, authorities said.
The dead and injured were Burundi refugees who had been resettled in Tucson by an international agency.
The van, which had 17 occupants, was westbound near Texas Canyon just after 2 p.m. when the driver lost control and the vehicle rolled over, according to an Arizona Department of Public Safety press release.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the single-vehicle crash.
Twelve occupants were taken by helicopter to hospitals in Tucson, the press release stated.
University Medical Center received eleven of the occupants, said Jean Spinelli, a UMC spokeswoman.
Six of the victims were in critical condition and five were in serious condition Wednesday night, Spinelli said.
So, let’s see, these refugees were ‘rescued’ from a refugee camp in Tanzania only to meet death on an Arizona highway as they were being taken to supply cheap labor for a big business in John McCain’s state. Someone ought to check McCain campaign donors in Arizona.
Although officials originally believed the group to be tourists from Tanzania, the director of a relief agency in Tucson said the people were Burundians who had fled to a Tanzanian refugee camp before being relocated to Tucson.
The group was seeking work at Eurofresh Inc., a hydroponics vegetable grower in Willcox, said Ken Briggs, executive director of the International Rescue Committee’s Tucson office.
He said the Burundians had been living in Tucson for a few years.
The International Rescue Committee specializes in humanitarian and emergency relief, relocating refugees and providing health care to communities around the world.
Eurofresh has become a major Southern Arizona employer of refugees.
So, more proof of what I have been saying all along—the “humanitarian” groups resettling refugees, and the US State Department, serve as “head hunters” for big businesses in the US. The US taxpayer foots the bill.
I could scream!
How come all of you naive “volunteers” in the refugee resettlement industry don’t get this? How can you not see that the Open Borders movement is just a front for big business interests?
Darn, I wish I had a category for tragedies.
*Endnote: We resettled 2,889 Burundians in 2008 and so far in this fiscal year the number is 421 up to April 30th (that is for the whole US). Prior to that, in 2007, we resettled 4,525 (with 337 to AZ), in 2006 it was 469 nationally and only 50 to AZ. If you would like to look at some numbers yourselves for years 2000-2007 go here. As far as I know 2008 and 2009 are not available to the public.