Multiple deaths in crash involving US golfers

A vehicle carrying members of the University of the Southwest’s golf teams collided head-on with a pickup truck on a two-lane road in West Texas, killing multiple people including some students and the teams’ coach, officials have announced.

The vehicles crashed on Tuesday night in Andrews County and Sgt. Steven Blanco of the Texas Department of Public Safety said there were fatalities in both vehicles, but the number of dead was not immediately released.

“It’s a very tragic scene,” Blanco said. “It’s very, very tragic.”

The bus or van was transporting members of the New Mexico university’s men’s and women’s golf teams from a tournament, Blanco said, and the other vehicle involved was a Ford F-150.

University President Quint Thurman said that the vehicle was driven by the teams’ coach and carried about seven to nine students. He said the coach and some students were 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,” Thurman said in a statement.

Thurman said two students “with serious injuries” were airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock.

The University of the Southwest is a private college located in Hobbs, New Mexico, near the state’s border with Texas. The teams had been scheduled to play in a tournament on Tuesday at Midland College, about 505km west of Dallas.