Woman, 2 children killed in Donna wreck

DONNA - A woman and two children were killed and several other children injured Friday in connection with a fiery crash that sent a sign hurtling into a school bus.

Annabelle Rios, of Alamo, was eastbound on the U.S. Expressway 83 frontage road about 4:30 p.m. when she lost control of her truck and fishtailed, police said. The truck rolled and struck a sign, sending it flying into the window of a Donna school district bus.

The sign shattered the bus window and struck a 12-year-old boy in the back of the head. He and several other injured children were taken to McAllen Medical Center. The boy died.

Police were unsure, however, whether he expired en route to the hospital or at the hospital. They did not release his name, and Donna school district officials could not be reached to comment on the incident.

After colliding with the sign, the truck continued to roll and struck a second, larger sign at the intersection of the frontage road and Valley View Road. The vehicle burst into flames, killing Rios and her 3-year-old son Joshua, said Donna police Detective Rick Suarez.

The other children aboard the bus were taken to the nearby Sauceda Middle School to be picked up by their parents or guardians.

Rios apparently had been on her way to her Donna home to let her three older children into the house. They had just arrived home from school and were waiting at the gate, her brother-in-law John Paul Hernandez said.

Tears welled in his eyes as he recalled the phone call he received on his way home from work informing him Rios might have been in a crash.

"It just hurts," he said of the grief.

"But I guess God needed him," he added, referring to his nephew.

The family gathered about 200 yards from where emergency responders worked to recover the bodies from the burned wreck of the truck.

As the sun set on scene, police were still in the process of reconstructing what happened based on statements from witnesses. The school bus appeared undamaged except for the one shattered window.

Power was out in the immediate area for several hours, after the truck knocked over a utility pole, said Lauro Solis, a spokesman for American Electric Power Co. Inc.

Traffic was backed up for several hours. At least two minor collisions occurred in the traffic jam shortly after 7 p.m.
Emergency responders also dealt with an unrelated crash farther west on the expressway, in south Pharr, near the intersection with U.S. Highway 281. A truck apparently rolled over and came to rest on a guardrail. There were no deaths.

Police continue to investigate the fatal crash.