Hobbs, New Mexico (AP) — A 13-year-old man is driving a pickup truck that crashed into a van in western Texas, with nine members including six members of a college golf team and their coach, National Transportation Safety. Died. Board officials said Thursday.
A child and a man traveling by truck have also died.
Bruce Lansburg, vice chairman of the NTSB, said the left front tire of the truck, which was a spare tire, also punctured before the collision.
The speeds of the two vehicles were unknown, but “this was clearly a high-speed collision,” Landsberg said. He added an investigator who wanted to get enough information from the vehicle recorder to better understand what happened.
At the age of 14, you must take a learner-licensed classroom course in Texas, and at the age of 15, you must obtain a provisional license to drive with an instructor or a licensed adult. Victor Taylor of the Ministry of Public Security said driving at the age of 13 would violate the law.
The pickup truck collided head-on with the van after crossing the opposite lane on a darkened two-lane highway, killing a man traveling with the boy. 6 New Mexico University Students and Golf Coaches..
It’s not uncommon for rural people in the United States to learn to drive when they are young.But the news that he was 13 years old Grabbing the steering wheel in a Texas crash and refocusing on practice..
Students and coaches from the University of the Southwest, including one from Portugal and Mexico, were returning from the golf tournament when a vehicle crashed on Tuesday night. Two Canadian students were hospitalized in crisis.
The NTSB has sent an investigation team to the crash site in Andrews County, Texas, about 30 miles (50 km) east of the New Mexico border. Although the area is rural, the roads are often congested with traffic related to agriculture and oil and gas development.
Maria Duarte, a spokeswoman for the University of the Southwest, declined to comment on the NTSB’s announcement of a young driver, citing an ongoing investigation.
The golf team was traveling in a 2017 Ford Transit van that was towing a box trailer When colliding with a truckAccording to NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss, both vehicles were on fire.
He said vehicles collided on a two-lane asphalt highway with a speed limit of 75 mph (120 kph), but investigators have not yet identified which vehicle was driving how fast.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has identified the deceased as follows: Golf coach Tyler James, Hobbes, New Mexico, 26 years old. Mauricio Sanchez, Mexico, 19 years old. Travis Garcia, Pleasanton, Texas, 19 years old. Jackson Jin, Westminster, Colorado, 22 years old. Karisa Raines, 21 years old, Fort Stockton, Texas. Laci Stone, 18 years old, Nocona, Texas. Tiago Susa, Portugal, 18 years old.
Henrich Siemens, 38, from Seminole County, Texas, and an unidentified 13-year-old boy on a 2007 Dodge 2500 pickup were also killed.
The serious injuries in the van were Canadian student Dayton Price, 19, from Mississauga, Ontario, and Hayden Underhill, 20, from Amherstview, Ontario. Both were taken by helicopter to Lubbock’s University Medical Center, about 110 miles (180 km) northeast.
“They are stable, recovering and making more and more progress every day,” said Ryan Tipton, a provost at the University of the Southwest, about two students injured on Thursday.
“One of the students is eating chicken soup,” Tipton said, calling their recovery an “inch game.”
According to Tipton, President Quint Sirman visited the students’ parents at the hospital and explained the intimate community of the university, which has only about 350 students on campus.
Underhill’s brother Drew said his parents Ken and Wendy flew to Texas.
“Hockey has been a big part of life for some time, but his true passion is golf,” Drew Underhill said.
About 150 people remembered Jin at Texas Roadhouse on Thursday night. Texas Roadhouse is a Hobbes restaurant, where she met her five-month-old girlfriend.
“We met here at this very table,” said Hobbes’ 20-year-old Maddy Russell. “He was my heart.”
The mourners fired about 100 blue and orange balloons in the cold whipping winds of eastern New Mexico and soon disappeared to the horizon.
The Mexico Golf Club has posted an online memo to condolences to Sanchez’s loved ones.
Susa is from the south coast of Portugal and went on to college in the United States after graduating from high school last summer, said Renata Afonso, head of Escora Sekundaria de Lure.
“I would be happy to have him as a student at any school,” she said.
Team member Jasmine Colon was supposed to play, but the mother said she decided to visit her parents in Houston instead at the last minute.
“We knew all the people on board,” said Tonya Collum. “Basically, the whole team is gone or in the hospital.”
The University of the Southwest is a private Christian university located in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the Texas border.
On Wednesday, a monument was set up on a course near the campus where the team practiced. There was a handmade sign with flowers, golf balls, a cross and initials USW.
Ben Kirks, Rockwind Community Links Manager, said:
University Said on twitter Its counseling and religious services will be available on campus.
The team participated in a golf tournament at Midland College, about 315 miles (505 km) west of Dallas. Midland College canceled Wednesday’s play due to a crash.
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This story has been updated to correct the name of Henrich Siemens and remove his reference to him as a pickup truck driver.
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Bleeding reported by Little Rock, Arkansas, and snow reported by Phoenix. Associated Press writers Jake Braeberg and Jamie Stengle of Dallas, Rob Gillies of Toronto, and Barry Hatton of Lisbon contributed to this report.
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Attanasio is a corps member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for the United States Is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in the local newsroom to report on unreported issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter..