HOUSTON (AP) -- Houston Fire Department members have been helping fellow firefighters from Venezuela after four of their co-workers were killed and another critically injured in a wreck.
Fifteen Venezuelans from the Caracas area were heading to a Spanish-language firefighter training course at Texas A&M University when the accident occurred at about 6:40 a.m. Sunday east of Houston.
``We wanted to help any way we could and they poured out their hearts to us. It made me cry,'' said Houston Fire Chief Phil Boriskie, who spent seven hours with 10 Venezuelan firefighters who survived the accident without injury.
``They talked about being in a strange country, unable to really speak the language and not knowing anyone,'' he told the Houston Chronicle for its Tuesday editions. ``They said they will always hold a special place in their hearts for Houston firefighters, as we will for them.''
Jocelyn Garriga, an HFD engineer operator and paramedic who speaks Spanish, took the group to the downtown logistics building and gave them a tour of a fire station.
``They were very thankful for being taken around instead of just staying in their hotel room and thinking about what happened,'' she said.
At the request of the Venezuelans, Houston firefighters also located a Spanish-speaking priest who could pray with them, Boriskie said. And he said that Houston's stress management team was called to help the Venezuelans cope with the loss, the chief said.
``We were not only co-workers,'' said Venezuelan fire captain Hector Jimenez. ``We are all good friends.''
The Venezuelans had flown into Miami and were driving to College Station on Sunday in three sport utility vehicles, authorities said.
For an unknown reason, the last vehicle in the caravan struck the rear of a tractor-trailer that had pulled onto the shoulder on Interstate 10 in Chambers County.
The truck driver, 64-year-old Daniel Hopper of Silsbee, was legally parked to contact his home office, officials said. He was treated for minor injuries and released.
The two men and two women from Venezuela who died on impact were 29-year-old driver Jose Gantes Frias, 26-year-old Adelis Idler Alvares and Carolina Moreales-Linares, 34, all of Caracas; and Antonio Colemenares, 60, of Laguaira.
The SUV's only other occupant, 50-year-old Gorge Zea of Caracas, was flown to Hermann Memorial Hospital, where he remained in critical condition Monday.
Still under investigation is the accident's cause, including the possibility that the driver may have fallen asleep.
While the group never got to attend the firefighter school as they had planned, the school plans to remember those who died with a memorial on Wednesday, said school spokesman Jason Cook. He said a more detailed presentation about the group will be made at the graduation banquet Thursday.
The Venezuelan consulate, who provided hotel lodging for the stranded crew, is helping families make arrangements to ship the bodies of the four home for burial.
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