2 dead in U.S. Marshals Service van crash

PECOS, Texas (CNN) -- A U.S. Marshals Service van transporting federal inmates from El Paso to Odessa crashed Wednesday on Interstate 20 near Pecos, leaving two prisoners dead and injuring 12, officials said.

The identities of the dead and injured -- one guard and 11 prisoners -- were not released. Rudy Carrasco, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said none of the inmates escaped.

The accident happened at 2:30 p.m. when the driver, who was "fatigued," drifted off the roadway, struck a guardrail, and lost control of the van, Carrasco said. The U.S. Marshals Service blamed the wreck on a blown tire.

The van then rolled off the embankment and overturned, killing the two prisoners, he said. The injured were taken to hospitals in Pecos and El Paso.

The van was carrying 13 prisoners and two guards, one of whom was not injured, from El Paso to Ector County Correctional Center in Odessa, said Jack Dean, the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas.