3 Texans die in New Mexico highway crash involving towed SUV

DEMING, N.M. (AP) — Three West Texas residents were killed when the SUV they were riding in while it was being towed on a New Mexico highway rolled and they were ejected, state police announced Monday.

Eight people in all were in two SUVs headed east on Interstate 10 outside the small southern New Mexico city of Deming on Saturday night when both vehicles left the roadway for an unknown reason, state police said.

The three men who died were not wearing seat belts and died at the scene after they were ejected from the Nissan SUV they were riding in. The driver was badly injured and was airlifted to a hospital.

The four people riding in the GMC Yukon that was towing the Nissan were taken to hospitals by ambulance. The names and identities of the injured people were not released and state police said they did not know their conditions.

The dead were identified as 53-year-old Raymundo Cruz Herrera and 41-year-old Jose Luis Guerrero, both of El Paso, and 27-year-old Abraham Calderon Anthony, Texas.

State police said alcohol was not a factor in the accident.