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The
fiery, head-on collision in West Texas on Tuesday left two
others hospitalized.
"A 13-year-old child was behind the wheel of the pickup truck,"
NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg told a news conference,
saying it appeared "that the left front tire which was a spare
tire had failed, which resulted in the vehicle pulling hard to
the left and crossing into the opposing lane."
"It was very clearly a high speed head-on collision between two
heavy vehicles," he added.
A 2007 Dodge 2500 pickup being driven by the 13-year-old struck
the 2017 Transit towing an eight-foot cargo trailer and carrying
the coach and eight team members of the University of Southwest
College golf team, Landsberg said.
USW, a private Christian university in Hobbs, New Mexico, had
said its van was carrying nine people, seven of whom died, and
said two others were in critical condition at a Texas hospital.
The pickup truck's driver and passenger also died in the crash,
which occurred in Andrews County, Texas.
(Reporting David Shepardson in Washington, Additional reporting
by Kanishka Singh and Dan Whitcomb; editing by Eric Beech and
Bill Berkrot)
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