A 13-year-old was reportedly driving a pickup truck that struck a van, causing a collision that killed nine people, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
What happened: Authorities have been trying to determine what caused a two-vehicle crash that killed six University of the Southwest golfers and their coach
- Per The Associated Press, a pickup truck crossed into the opposite lane on a two-lane highway and struck a van head-on, killing nine people, including six New Mexico college students.
- “It appears at this point in the investigation that the left front tire, which was a spare tire, had failed,” National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said about the pickup, per CNN.
- Two people survived the crash, but they are hospitalized, per CNN.
What they said: “One of the students is eating chicken soup,” University of the Southwest Provost Ryan Tipton said, according to CNN. “I spoke with the parents and they are there with them and they are recovering every day. It’s a game of inches and every hour leads to them one step closer to another day. ... There is no indication as to how long it’s going to take but they are both stable and recovering and every day making more and more progress.”
Worth noting: It’s unclear how fast the vehicles were going at the time of the crash, per News Channel 5. But “this was clearly a high-speed collision,” Landsberg said.