Officials investigating the tragedy have named eight of the nine people who died in a fiery crash in Texas between their van and a stray driver of a Ford F150.
The victims included seven members of the Southwestern University men’s and women’s golf teams, as well as their 26-year-old coach.
Students Lacie Stone, 19, and Carisa Raines, 21, were identified by their grieving relatives after the crash on Wednesday in Andrews County, Texas.
The Texas Department of Public Safety identified other fatalities in the van carrying the women: Mauricio Sanchez, 19, from Mexico, Travis Garcia, 19, from Pleasanton, Texas, Jackson Zinn, 22, from Westminster, Colorado, and Thiago Souza. 18, Portugal. USW golf coach Tyler James was also killed.
The truck driver who crashed into the students was carrying 38-year-old Heinrich Siemens from the Seminoles and an unidentified 13-year-old who was with him. None survived.
Stone, 19, was returning with her teammates and coach in New Mexico from a tournament in Texas when the crash took her to her death, her devastated mother Chelsea Stone said. Carisa Raines, 21, was also named as one of those killed by her family.
Jackson Zinn died in a car accident on Wednesday morning.
Hayden Underhill (left) and Dayton Price (right) were the only survivors of the USW van.
Stone’s mother, Chelsea Stone, posted on Facebook that her daughter was among the dead.
“I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy,” Chelsea Stone wrote in the post. “The Latchi golf team had an accident last night while leaving a golf tournament. Our dear Laci did not survive. We are still waiting for details, but for now this is all I have. That our Laci is gone!
Chelsea added that her late daughter has “a heart the size of Texas”.
Relatives of Raines, a 21-year-old USW junior, said she was “a wonderful and kind soul who will be greatly missed by all.”
In the crash, two other students, Dayton Price, 19, from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and Hayden Underhill, 20, from Amherstview, Ontario, Canada, were critically injured in the collision. According to the GoFundMe campaign description, Price suffered third-degree burns to almost half of his body.
Southwestern University said in an update early Wednesday that eight members of the men’s and women’s golf teams were on the bus, as well as coach Tyler James, who was driving when the truck crashed into Andrews County. on Tuesday evening.
Photographs taken at the scene during the daytime showed the disastrous aftermath of the collision, which left the charred, mangled remains of a bus and pickup truck lying on the side of a rural road.
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The twisted, charred wreckage of a bus lies on the side of a road at the site of a fatal crash in Andrews County, Texas that killed nine people, including six New Mexico college golfers.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said this Ford F-150 went the wrong way for some unknown reason and crashed head-on into the bus. Truck driver and passenger killed
Two of the eight Southwestern University students on the bus survived and were hospitalized.
Soldiers from the Texas Department of Public Safety inspect the site of the fatal crash on Wednesday.
Lacey Stone, a freshman at Southwestern University in New Mexico, was identified by her mother as one of six golf students killed Tuesday in a Texas car accident.
Carisa Raines, 21, also died in the crash. She was a junior biology specialist.
Coach Tyler James (right) spent his first season as head coach for the men’s and women’s golf program.
The pickup truck crossed the center line of a two-lane road and crashed head-on into a bus.
Sergeant Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety reported that a Ford F-150 crossed the center line of a two-lane road and crashed into a bus.
According to Blanco, six students and James died along with the driver and passenger of the pickup truck. Two students were flown by helicopter to Lubbock Hospital in critical condition.
According to her mother, team member Jasmine Collum was supposed to play but decided at the last minute to visit her parents in Houston instead.
“Otherwise, who knows?” Tonya Collum said. “I told her that God had a plan for her and therefore she was fine. We knew all these people on board. Basically, the whole team has either left or is in the hospital.”
Blanco said the crash happened around 8:17 pm, about nine miles from the town of Andrews, northwest of Midland Odessa.
“Both were extremely badly injured,” Blanco told Midland-based KWES, an NBC affiliate.
“It’s a very tragic scene,” Blanco added. “It’s very, very tragic.”
The wreckage of a truck is seen in Andrew County, Texas late Tuesday after a fatal collision that killed nine people in two vehicles.
He said the university-owned bus was coming from a West Texas golf tournament and described it as a passenger van.
The teams were due to play Tuesday’s tournament at Midland College, about 315 miles west of Dallas.
The National Transportation Safety Board will dispatch a 12-person task force to the crash site, including experts in human performance, vehicle and vehicle factors, and accident reconstruction, agency spokesman Eric Weiss said. The group is expected to arrive later Wednesday, he said.
“We will try to find out not only what happened, but also why it happened so that we can prevent similar things in the future,” he said.
The golf team was riding in a 2017 Ford Transit van that was towing the van when it collided with a 2007 Dodge pickup, Weiss said. Both cars caught fire after the collision, he said, calling it an “energy event.”
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wrote on Facebook that she was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life.
“This is a terrible accident. As we await further information from the authorities, I pray with the community and loved ones of all those involved,” she said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also expressed sympathy.
“We mourn with loved ones whose lives were horribly prematurely claimed last night in a fatal car crash near Andrews,” Abbott said.
According to her bio on the golf team page, Lacey Stone graduated from Nokona High School in Texas last year and majored in global business management at USW. She is survived by her parents, Chelsea and Haidan, and her two siblings, Jonathan and Kaigan.
“She was an absolute ray of sunshine in her short time on earth,” her mom wrote in her Facebook tribute. “Heydan, Jonathan, Kaigan and I are absolutely devastated. We will never be the same after this and just don’t understand how this happened to our amazing, beautiful, smart, joyful girl.”
Chelsea Stone shared that right before Laci returned to college after a hiatus, she begged her mom to get matching heart tattoos.
Lacey Stone graduated from Nokona High School in Texas last year and majored in global business management at USW.
Laci’s mom Chelsea (left) shared a photo on Wednesday of her and Laci showing off their new matching heart tattoos.
“I almost chickened out because I am a child, but I got through it,” wrote the grieving mother of three. “I am so infinitely grateful that God gave me the courage to go through this and always have that memory with her.”
Carisa Raines was a native of Fort Stockton, Texas. She was a student at Southwestern University with a degree in biology. Her dream was to become a medical examiner. According to her team biography, Raines is survived by her parents and a brother.
Dayton Price, a member of the men’s golf team, is currently being treated at Lubbock Hospital for third-degree burns. A native of Ontario, Canada, he joined USW as a freshman in sports management.
University President Quint Thurman said earlier: “We are still investigating the details of the accident, but we are devastated and deeply saddened to learn of the deaths of our students and their coach.”
“It is my understanding that two of our students survived and were airlifted to University Hospital in Lubbock with serious injuries,” Thurman added.
“We ask for prayers for their recovery, as well as for comfort and strength for all the families, friends and students of those whose lives are lost.”
According to an online biography, Thurman named the coach as Tyler James, who was starting his first season as coach of the men’s and women’s golf teams.
The university confirmed the crash in a Facebook post shortly after midnight on Wednesday, calling the accident “fatal.”
Southwestern University golfers were returning from a competition in Texas when their bus collided head-on with a Ford F-150 in 1788.
Southwestern University confirmed the accident in a Facebook post (pictured)
Pictured: Southwestern University sign in Hobbs, New Mexico (file photo)
“Southwestern University can confirm that there was a fatal crash involving the USW men’s and women’s golf teams,” the statement said.
“Currently, the university is trying to notify family members of those involved in the accident. Counseling and religious services will be available to students, faculty, and staff on campus. The university will continue to provide additional information as it becomes available,” the department added.
The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
James spent his first season as head coach for the men’s and women’s golf program.
The University of the Southwest is a private Christian college located in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the state border with Texas.
The accident occurred in the same area, but not on the same road, where three people died in November when a pickup truck crashed into a school bus carrying members of the Andrews High School band.
The school bandleader, school bus driver, and pickup truck driver died in this accident.