2 Men Riding in Trunk of Car Were Brothers

Two of four illegal immigrants involved in a freeway crash Monday while riding in the trunk of a car were brothers whose father died a month ago in Mexico City, authorities said Tuesday.

Mexican Consul Marisela Quijano said one of the men, Fernando Samoreno, 39, is a resident of Mexico who has been living in New York for the last six years. Samoreno and his 33-year-old brother, along with two other men, were in the trunk of a Honda Accord heading to the Los Angeles area when a van struck their car on Interstate 5.

The impact of the crash pushed Samoreno’s brother and a Veracruz man through the trunk into the back seat of the car, killing them almost instantly, California Highway Patrol authorities said. Their names were being withheld pending family notifications.

Samoreno and Mexico City resident Elio Martinez, who suffered critical injuries, were taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo.

Investigators are still searching for the Honda driver, who fled the scene.

“We believe he was involved in smuggling illegal immigrants,” said John McAllister, INS’s deputy assistant district director for investigations. “We’re in the process of trying to identify him now.”

Witnesses who saw the accident told investigators the Honda driver was traveling north on the freeway about 4:40 p.m. when he made an unsafe lane change and was rear-ended by a van, CHP authorities said. The driver then ran across the freeway and fled.

Quijano said Fernando Samoreno had returned to Mexico to visit his father, who died last month.

“He was coming back to New York,” Quijano said, “and was entering the country with his brother, whom he wanted to bring back to the United States.”