In Texas, a 13-year-old was driving a truck that resulted in the death of 9 individuals, including college golfers from New Mexico.

On Tuesday night in West Texas, a 13-year-old driving a pickup truck crashed into a van carrying members of a New Mexico university's golf teams, resulting in the deaths of nine people, officials announced on Thursday.

According to National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg, an early investigation showed that the truck had a spare wheel instead of its left front tire, which appeared to have failed, causing the truck to swerve in front of the van.

During a Thursday press conference, Landsberg stated that a 13-year-old child was operating a pickup truck.

The wheel did not seem to be an emergency spare "donut," but resembled the other tires. The left front tire had an intact steel rim, while the three tires were severely damaged.

The golf teams from the University of the Southwest were traveling in a van for a tournament.

A 13-year-old pickup truck driver and a passenger, 38-year-old Henrich Siemens, were among the six student athletes and a coach killed in a crash.

On Wednesday, the department identified the fatally injured coach and team members as Tyler James, Mauricio Sanchez, Travis Garcia, Jackson Zinn, Karisa Raines, Laci Stone, and Tiago Sousa, all of whom are between the ages of 18 and 26.

Hayden Underhill and Dayton Price, both 19 and 20 years old, were reported in critical condition along with the other two individuals in the van. Landsberg did not provide an update on their condition on Thursday.

According to Landsberg, the Texas Department of Public Safety concluded that the child was driving after identifying the remains in the driver seat following a post-crash fire.

The NTSB is an independent agency that will investigate the crash but is not responsible for potential criminal charges.

The NTSB is still investigating whether the vehicle recorders survived the crash to obtain data on the speed of the vehicles prior to the accident. The speed limit on the highway is 75 mph.

Landsberg stated that the collision between two heavy vehicles was a high-speed, head-on crash, as evidenced by the thousands of photos taken by first responders. There is no doubt about the force of impact.

During the crash, it seemed that some passengers in the van were not wearing seatbelts, and at least one was thrown out of the vehicle.

Landsberg stated that the NTSB will release a preliminary report in two to three weeks, while a final report will not be made available for 12 to 18 months.

Highways have a disproportionately high number of fatalities, with Landsberg stating that the equivalent of a Boeing 737 is killed on the nation's highways.

"On our highways, the number of fatalities exceeds any other mode of transportation. We cannot tolerate 100+ deaths daily, so it's time to take driving more seriously," he stated.