Asleep on Tracks, 6 Immigrants Die

Six illegal immigrants sleeping on railroad tracks in south Texas, possibly to avoid snakebites, were killed when a Union Pacific freight train ran over them, authorities said. Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the crew of the 105-car train saw the immigrants, all men, lying asleep between the rails in a remote and rugged area about 60 miles north of the border city of Brownsville, Texas, but it could not stop the train in time. The train was rolling through ranchland on its way from Houston to Brownsville.