At least six golf players and a coach from a university in New Mexico were killed in the head-on collision in West Texas
Nine people, including at least six students and a coach on their way home from representing a university in a golf tournament, were killed in a West Texas car crash according to local authorities.
Sergeant Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety said six students in a University of the Southwest vehicle carrying the college’s women’s and men’s golf teams were killed alongside a member of the faculty, with another two students in critical condition flown to a hospital in Lubbock 110 miles away from where the incident unfolded.
The crash occurred when a pickup truck crossed a two-lane road’s center line in Andrews County around 30 miles east of the state border with New Mexico, with the driver of the pickup and its passenger also killed.
“It’s a very tragic scene,” Blanco said. “It’s very, very tragic.”
University of the Southwest president Quint Thurman confirmed on Wednesday that the team vehicle was driven by golf coach Tyler James, who was among the dead.
“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,” lamented Thurman.
