10 Drown When Van Falls Into Florida Canal
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CLEWISTON, Fla. — A farm labor van plunged off a curve in the road and into a canal in heavy fog Wednesday, trapping and drowning 10 migrant workers from Mexico, authorities said.
“Some of them had stuck their arms out trying to get out, but they just didn’t make it,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Chamness. “When the deputies dove in to get them, they were already dead.”
The driver and one passenger escaped through windows with minor injuries as the panel van sank in 12 feet of murky water in rural Hendry County, he said. Nine men and one woman could not get out, he said.
The road cuts through a sugar cane district intersected by numerous irrigation and drainage canals, Chamness said.
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