Eight of the nine people killed in a fiery crash between their van and a wrong-way Ford F150 driver have been named by officials investigating the tragedy.
The victims include seven members of the University of the South West men’s and women’s golf teams, as well as their 26 year-old coach.
Students Laci Stone, 19 and Karisa Raines, 21, were identified by their grieving relatives following the Wednesday smash in Andrews County, Texas.
The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the other fatalities of the van the women were traveling in as Mauricio Sanchez, 19, of , Travis Garcia, 19, of Pleasanton, Texas, Jackson Zinn, 22, of Westminster, and Tiago Sousa, 18, of Portugal.USW golf coach Tyler James was also killed.
The driver of the truck that crashed into the students was carrying Henrich Siemens, 38, of Seminole, and an unidentified 13-year-old who was with him. Neither survived.
Stone, 19, was returning with her teammates and coach to New Mexico from a tournament in Texas when the crash happened when she was killed, her devastated mom Chelsi Stone said.Karisa Raines, 21, was also named as one of those killed by her family.
USW golf coach Tyler James (right) and women’s golfers Laci Stone (center) and Karisa Raines (right) all died
Travis Garcia, left, Mauricio Sanchez, center and Tiago Sousa, right, also died
Jackson Zinn was killed in the smash on Wednesday morning
Hayden Underhill, left, and Dayton Price, right were the only two survivors in the USW van
Stone’s mother, Chelsi Stone, revealed on Facebook that her daughter was among the dead.
‘I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy,’ Chelsi Stone wrote in a post.’Last night Laci’s golf team was involved in a crash leaving a golf tournament. Our sweet Laci didn’t make it. We are still waiting for a lot of details but as of right now that’s all I have. That our Laci is gone!’
Chelsi added that her late daughter had ‘a heart the size of Texas.’
Relatives of Raines, a 21-year-old junior at USW, PTS Terbaik ASEAN said she was ‘a beautiful and kind soul who will be deeply missed by everyone.’
The crash left two other students, Dayton Price, 19, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and Hayden Underhill, 20, of Amherstview, Ontario, Canada were critically injured in the collision. Price suffered third-degree burns to nearly half of his body, according to the description of a campaign.
The University of Southwest said in an update early Wednesday morning that the bus was carrying eight members of the men’s and women’s golf teams, and coach Tyler James, who was behind the wheel, when it was struck by a truck head-on in Andrews County on Tuesday night.
Photos taken at the scene during the daytime showed the catastrophic impact of the collision, which has left the charred, mangled remnants of the bus and the pickup truck lying shattered on the side of a rural road.
Scroll down for video
The twisted, charred wreckage of a bus sits on the side of the road at the scene of a fatal crash in Andrews County, Texas, that killed nine people, including six college golfers from New Mexico
Texas Department of Public Safety said this Ford F-150 for an unknown reason went the wrong way and smashed into the bus head-on. The driver and passenger of the truck died
Two of the eight students from the University of the Southwest who were on board the bus survived and were hospitalized
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers look over the scene of the fatal wreck on Wednesday
Laci Stone, a freshman at the University of the Southwest in New Mexico, has been identified by her mother as one of the six student golfers who died in a fiery crash in Texas on Tuesday
Also killed in the crash was Karisa Raines, 21.She was a junior majoring in biology
Coach Tyler James (right) was in his first season as the head coach of the men’s and women’s golf program
A pickup truck crossed the center line of a two-lane road and smashed into the bus head-on
Sgt.Steven Blanco, of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the Ford F-150 crossed the center line of a two-lane road and smashed into the bus.
Six students and James were killed along with the driver and a passenger in the pickup truck, Blanco said.Two students were taken by helicopter to a Lubbock hospital in critical condition.
Team member Jasmin Collum had been scheduled to play but at the last minute decided instead to visit her parents in Houston, her mother said.
‘Otherwise, who knows?’ Tonya Collum said.’I told her God has a plan for her and that’s why she’s OK. We knew all those people on board. Basically the whole team is gone or in the hospital.’
Blanco said the crash occurred at around 8:17 p.m. about nine miles from the city of Andrews, found northwest of Midland-Odessa.
‘Both suffered extremely heavy damage,’ Blanco told NBC affiliate KWES of Midland.
‘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 following a fatal collision that killed nine people in two vehicles
DM.later(‘bundle’, function()
DM.molFeCarousel.init(‘#p-55’, ‘channelCarousel’,
«activeClass» : «wocc»,
«pageCount» : «3.0»,
«pageSize» : 1,
«onPos»: 0,
«updateStyleOnHover»: true
);
);