A 13-year-old boy was driving a pickup truck that smashed into a van and killed nine people, including both himself and his own father and a number of teenagers in a horror blaze in Texas, USA.
Ricky Siemens was driving illegally in a truck that was on a spare tyre when the wheel burst.
His truck had a head on smash into a van carrying young golfers from a Texas university, on Tuesday night.
The National Transportation Safety Board vice-chair Bruce Landsberg confirmed the horrific incident which led to a number of deaths, over half of whom were teenagers.
They smashed into a van carrying eight University of the Southwest golf students, six of whom and their coach died.
The fiery smash happened west of Dallas, Texas, just north of the towns of Midland and Odessa.
Ricky had been driving with his 38-year-old dad Henrich Siemens, a dad-of-five, with the pair were on their way to pick up a new car at the time.
Agatha ‘Aggie’ Siemens, the widowed mum who lost her husband and son in the crash said: “They were going to pick up a car that [Siemens] bought.
“I was supposed to see him about two hours later,” The New York Post reported.
The crash killed college golfers Mauricio Sanchez, 19, Travis Garcia, 19, Jackson Zinn, 22, Karisa Raines, 21, Laci Stone, 18, and Tiago Sousa, 18.
Two students, Hayden Underhill and Dayton Price, survived the horrific smash.
They were pulled from the wreckage and airlifted to a nearby hospital where as of yesterday they remained in critical condition.
Mr Price suffered third-degree burns to nearly half his body according to the description of a GoFundMe campaign that has since raised £73,277.
Their coach Tyler James, 26, who was driving the young athletes was also tragically killed in the accident.
After their tyre burst, the van swerved across the central reservation and slammed into the oncoming van head on.
“This was clearly a high-speed collision,” Landsberg said, but he added it was unclear how fast the vehicles were travelling.
Sergeant Steven Blanco of Texas DPS told the New York Post that the cause of the crash had not yet been determined and cops ordered toxicology and other forensic reports.
According to state law in the area, motorists must be at least 15 years old to get their provisional licence, and at least 14 before they can begin to get classes to get their learner’s licence.
The college’s Ford Transit van was carrying nine people and towing a box trailer while heading back from a recent golf tournament, where both the women’s and men’s teams had competed.
The accident remains under investigation and grieving relatives mourned their losses on Facebook.
Ms Siemens posted a collage tribute to her two boys which read: “in loving memory” surrounded by pictures of the family.
Ms Siemens posted another tribute to the boy on Facebook with a photo of her son in his NASA T-shirt and tracksuit pants, smiling at the camera.
The NTSB revealed the age of the driver on Thursday but didn’t identify him.
Tributes have been pouring in for the six college golfers and coach who were killed in the crash.
Gary Raines, father of Karisa, 21, who died in the accident, speaking on the Today show, said: “We are praying so much for the families of all those other kids.
“Right now we just keep thinking we’re gonna wake up from this terrible nightmare. But it's not happening.”
Karisa’s mum, Sandy, said: “I don't know what I'm going to do without her.”
A fundraiser for funeral expenses for Karisa has raised £9,323 so far.
A memorial has been set up at the golf course where the team practiced, with flowers, gold balls and handmade signs left for the youngsters.
Rockwind Community Links manager, Ben Kirkes saw the golfers almost everyday.
He said: “'We have a memorial. It's the very least we could do for the players and of course coach James. It's a tough time.
“These kids were great kids and they were great, great community members. They were polite and they were just a pleasure to be around.”
Ryan Erwin, vice president for student engagement and athletics at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, said that Coach James had been “living out his dream”.
