At least 9 people killed in crash involving men's and women's golf teams from the University of the Southwest
Nine people, including a 13-year-old, six student-athletes and a coach from a New Mexico university's golf teams, were killed in a head-on collision in West Texas, the state's Department of Public Safety said. Sgt. Steven Blanco said a pickup truck crossed the center line of a highway Tuesday night and crashed into a van carrying members of the University of the Southwest men's and women's golf teams.
The teams had been returning from a tournament in Midland, Texas. Blanco said six students were killed, along with a faculty member. The driver of the pickup and its passenger were also killed. Authorities later identified them as 38-year-old Henrich Siemens and an unnamed 13-year-old boy of Seminole, Texas.
Nine passengers, including a coach, were in the school's vehicle, according to the university. The school confirmed golf head coach Tyler James, 26, was among the dead. James' bio on the school's athletics site said he was in his first season leading the golf program and had worked as a coach in Texas.
The student-athletes killed in the crash were identified as Travis Garcia, 19; Karissa Raines, 21; Mauricio Sanchez, 19; Tiago Sousa, 18; Laci Stone, 18; and Jackson Zinn, 22.
Two students, identified as Dayton Price, 19, and Hayden Underhill, 20, were taken by helicopter to a Lubbock hospital in critical condition, Blanco said. University President Quint Thurman said in a statement to NBC News the students suffered "serious injuries."
"It's a very tragic scene," Blanco said. "It's very, very tragic."
Ryan Tipton, the university's vice president of academic affairs, told CBS News it's a "very difficult time" for the school.
"Because we are such a small campus and such a tight-knit community ... in times of crisis, we come together as a family, and today, everybody in southeastern New Mexico, in West Texas, today, everybody's a Mustang," Tipton said, referring to the school's mascot.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a 12-member "go team" to the crash site, including experts in human performance, vehicle and motor carrier factors and accident reconstruction, agency spokesman Eric Weiss said.
"We'll try to find out not only what happened, but why it happened, so we can possibly prevent things like this from happening in the future," he said.
The golf teams were traveling in a 2017 Ford Transit van that was towing a box trailer when it collided with a 2007 Dodge pickup truck, Weiss said. Both vehicles caught fire after the collision, he said.
The teams had been scheduled to play in a tournament Tuesday at Midland College, about 315 miles west of Dallas. The college said Wednesday's play would be canceled because of the crash. Eleven schools are participating in the event.
The University of the Southwest is a private, Christian college located in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the state's border with Texas.
The university said on Facebook that it was working to notify family members of those involved in the crash, and counseling and religious services would be available on campus.
The crash was under investigation, Blanco said. The roadway where the crash occurred in Andrews County was closed early Wednesday.
The crash happened in the same area — but not the same roadway — where three people were killed in November when a pickup truck crashed into a school bus carrying members of the Andrews High School band.
The high school's band director, the school bus driver and the driver of the pickup truck all died in that crash.