Nine people, including six University of the Southwest golf players and their golf coach, have been killed after a fiery head-on collision between their mini-bus and a pickup truck in West Texas on Tuesday night.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Sgt. Steven Blanco, “for unknown reasons” the pickup veered into the opposite lane, hitting the oncoming bus. Both vehicles were engulfed in flames that could be “seen for miles,” KHOU 11 reported.
Nine passengers on the bus were injured, seven of whom died, the university said. The two surviving students were said to be in critical condition and receiving treatment after being airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas. The driver and passenger of the pickup truck also died.
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According to a statement posted to the University of the Southwest’s Twitter, the men’s and women’s golf teams were heading back to campus after a competition in Midland, Texas.
University President Quinn Thurman said the team’s coach, Tyler James, was driving the bus. According to the school’s athletics website, James was in his first season coaching the school’s golf teams.
Tyler James
University of the Southwest“We are still learning the details about the accident but we are devastated and deeply saddened to learn about the loss of our students’ lives and their coach,” Thurman said in a statement to NBC News.
The private Christian university, located in Hobbs, New Mexico, said that counseling and worship resources would be made available on campus for those grieving.
