A 13-year-old was driving a pickup truck that crashed into a vehicle carrying members of the University of the Southwest men’s and women’s golf teams, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed Thursday.
NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said the truck’s left front tire, which was a spare tire, also blew out before impact Tuesday night.
Nine people died in the crash. The 13-year-old, a passenger in the pickup, six students and a faculty member are among the dead.
Two others were being treated at a hospital in Lubbock for critical injuries.
Although it was unclear how fast the two vehicles were traveling, “this was clearly a high-speed collision,” Landsberg said.
The University of the Southwest, an NAIA-affiliated school, is located in southeast New Mexico.