13-year-old boy drove truck that hit van in Texas, killing 9

HOUSTON (NYTIMES) - A 13-year-old boy was behind the wheel of a pickup truck that struck a van in Texas on Tuesday night (March 15) in a collision that killed nine people, officials said on Thursday.

The nine dead were a college golf coach and six of his players, the boy himself and a man travelling with him.

Mr Bruce Landsberg, vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference that the truck's left front tyre was a spare that had blown out before the truck veered into the lane the golf team's van was travelling in and struck the van head on. It was unclear at what speeds the vehicles were travelling, but Mr Landsberg noted that the speed limit in the area is 120kmh.

"It was very clearly a high-speed, head-on collision between two heavy vehicles," he said. "There is no question about the force of impact."

Both vehicles went up in flames in the collision near Andrews, Texas, about 80km east of the state line with New Mexico.

It was unclear why the 13-year-old boy, whose name was not released by the authorities on Thursday, was driving the pickup truck. Mr Henrich Siemens, 38, of Seminole County, Texas, who was also in the truck, was killed in the collision, the authorities said.

The University of the Southwest identified the victims from that institution as Mr Tyler James, 26, the coach; and student-athletes Travis Garcia, Karisa Raines, Mauricio Sanchez, Tiago Sousa, Laci Stone and Jackson Zinn. Most of the golfers were freshmen at the university, a private Christian institution in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the state line with Texas.

Two other golf players who were in the van, Mr Dayton Price and Mr Hayden Underhill, were critically injured but survived the crash, and they were undergoing medical treatment in Lubbock, Texas, on Thursday, a spokesman for the university said at a news conference.

Dr Ryan Tipton, provost of University of the Southwest, said on Thursday that both players were "making steady progress".

In Texas, 14-year-olds can begin a classroom phase of a driver's education course, but they cannot apply for a learner's licence until they are 15, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

In a statement on Wednesday, Govenor Greg Abbott of Texas said state officials were helping to investigate the collision.

"We grieve with the loved ones of the individuals whose lives were horrifically taken too soon in this fatal vehicle crash near Andrews last night," Mr Abbott said.

Govenor Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico said on Wednesday that she was deeply saddened by the news. "This is a terrible, tragic accident," she said.