Man with methamphetamine in system was driving truck that killed US college golf team

Seven members of a New Mexico college golf team were killed when a pickup truck driver with methamphetamine in his bloodstream hit their van head-on in Texas earlier this year, a preliminary report from federal investigators revealed on Thursday.

Officials now believe the elder Siemens was driving and his son was the passenger when their 2007 Dodge pickup crossed the centerline on Farm-to-Market Road 1788 and barreled head-on into a 2017 Ford transit van carrying members of the golf team at the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, New Mexico.

Both vehicles caught fire. The van driver and team coach, Tyler James, 26, died with the players Jackson Zinn, 22; Mauricio Sanchez, 19; Travis Garcia, 19; Karisa Raines, 21; Laci Stone, 18; and Tiago Sousa, 18.

The NTSB said it had not found evidence of catastrophic tire failure that would have made the pickup veer over the centerline but noted the wreck remained under investigation.

The golfers attended a private Christian college near the New Mexico border with Texas and were headed to play in a tournament about 315 miles west of Dallas.