CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Friends and family are mourning the loss of two women killed in Jim Wells County on Tuesday night.
"They were very smart, they were very outgoing,” said friend Michelle Buentello. “I mean, they lit up a room. They did."
Buentello brought her family to the crash site at FM 2507 to remember Criselda Ramirez and Crystal Botello, who died after veering into the opposite lane and crashing head-on into a pickup truck while trying to avoid a group of wild hogs in the road.
"For wildlife that's in the roadway, you want to brake firmly, but not to slam on your brakes,” said Texas Department of Public Safety Public Information Sgt. Harold “Rob” Mallory. “Don't attempt to swerve to avoid it, because that's usually when we see the crashes occur, is when people swerve to avoid hitting wildlife."
Mallory tells 3NEWS that fatalities like this are rare.
"There have been two this year in the Corpus District, so one was in Aransas County, with that alligator, and then this one last night in Jim Wells County,” he said. “I did try to look for information over the last five years, and I only found one other crash involving wild animals in the roadway."
While DPS continues to investigate the deadly wreck, the Jim Wells County Sheriff’s Office was at the scene to help.
The county lawmen said many of these backroads are not lit at night, plus, they can have deer or hogs all along the sides of the road -- or even on it.
“They are looking for that green grass on the side of the highway on the side of the county roads and they'll dash out without any warning," said sheriff Daniel Bueno.
"Wearing seatbelts is crucial,” said Sgt. Ramon De La Garza Jr., a deputy with the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Department. “Slowing down and observing everything on the side of the highways, or the roadways, because the weather is changing, it so a lot of animals are coming closer to the roadway."