HOBBS, New Mexico. A 13-year-old was driving a pickup truck that crashed into a van in West Texas, killing nine people, Bruce Landsberg, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Thursday.
According to him, the left front wheel of the truck, which was a spare, also burst before the impact. While it was not clear how fast the two cars were traveling, “it was clearly a high-speed collision,” Landsberg said.
In Texas, you must be 14 years old to start attending classroom courses for a learner’s license and 15 years old to get that provisional license to drive with an instructor or an adult with a license in a car. Public Security Sergeant. Victor Taylor said the 13-year-old driver would break the law.
The pickup truck swerved into the wrong lane on a darkened two-lane highway before colliding head-on with a van, killing a boy, a man traveling with him, six New Mexico college students, and a golf coach.
Southwestern University students, including one from Portugal and one from Mexico, and the coach were returning from a golf tournament when the accident occurred on Tuesday evening. Two Canadian students were hospitalized in critical condition.
The NTSB sent an investigation team to the crash site in Andrews County, Texas, about 30 miles east of the New Mexico state line.
According to NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss, the men’s and women’s golf teams were driving a 2017 Ford Transit van that was towing a box trailer when it collided with a truck and both vehicles caught fire. He said the cars collided on a two-lane paved highway where the speed limit is 75 mph, though investigators have not yet determined how fast either vehicle was traveling.
The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the deceased as: golf coach Tyler James, 26, of Hobbs, New Mexico; and players Mauricio Sanchez, 19, from Mexico; Travis Garcia, 19, from Pleasanton, Texas; Jackson Zinn, 22, from Westminster, Colorado; Karisa Raines, 21, from Fort Stockton, Texas; Laci Stone, 18, from Nocona, Texas; and Thiago Souza, 18, from Portugal.
Also killed were Heinrich Siemens, 38, of Seminole County, Texas, and an unidentified 13-year-old boy, who were in a 2007 Dodge 2500 pickup truck.
Canadian students Dayton Price, 19, from Mississauga, Ontario, and Hayden Underhill, 20, from Amherstview, Ontario, were critically injured in the van. Both were flown by helicopter to University Medical Center in Lubbock, about 110 miles to the northeast.
“They are both stable, recovering and making more and more progress every day,” Southwestern University Provost Ryan Tipton said Thursday of the two injured students.
The Mexican Golf Federation has published an online note of condolences to the loved ones of Mauricio Sanchez. Souza was originally from Portugal’s south coast, where he graduated from high school last summer before heading to college in the US, said Renata Afonso, head of Escola Secundaria de Loule.
“Any school would be happy to have him as a student,” she said.
The University of the Southwest is a private Christian college located in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the state border with Texas. The memorial was erected Wednesday on a field near the campus where the team practices. There were flowers, golf balls, and a homemade sign with a cross and the initials USW.
“It’s the least we could do for the players and of course Coach James,” said Ben Kirkes, manager of Rockwind Community Links.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham wrote on Facebook that she was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life.
“This is a terrible accident. As we wait for more information from the authorities, I pray with the community and loved ones of all involved,” she said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also expressed sympathy.
“We mourn with loved ones whose lives were horribly prematurely taken last night in a fatal car accident near Andrews,” Abbott said.
The teams took part in a golf tournament at Midland College, about 315 miles west of Dallas. Midland College said Wednesday’s performance will be canceled due to an accident. 11 schools took part in the event.