A Lake Travis High School student and his mother were killed Monday morning in an auto accident involving an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer in Austin, Texas.
Santiago Vera, 17, his mother, Cynthia Vega, and Justino Rodriguez, 50, were driving in a Ford Focus eastbound on Texas Highway 71 when they were hit by a Subaru vehicle heading west on the same highway. The Subaru, driven by Bala Chandra Sekhar Gutti, 29, was driving along a curve in the road when it ran into the path of the Ford. The two vehicles clipped each other in the front left corners and spun outwards towards the outsides of the road.
Just before this collision, Lonnie Wade Jackson had been driving behind the Vegas in his 18-wheeler truck. When the crash occurred, Jackson was unable to react in time and crashed into the passenger side of the Vegas’ Ford Focus.
Both Santiago and Cynthia Vega were pronounced deceased at the scene. Gutti and Rodriguez were both transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge for their injuries. Jackson, the truck driver, was reportedly uninjured in the collision.
Santiago Vera was a senior at Lake Travis High School in west Austin.
