At least nine dead in Texas bus collision involving student athletes

At least nine people are dead after a vehicle carrying members of a New Mexico university's golf team collided with a pick-up truck in Texas, the school said.

Nine passengers including the team's coach were on the bus involved in the fatal crash, the University of the Southwest said in a statement.

Two passengers from the bus are in critical condition.

A driver and passenger in the pick-up were also both killed.

The vehicles collided on Tuesday night in Andrews County in west Texas, just after 20:00 local time (01:00 GMT).

"It's a very tragic scene," Sergeant Steven Blanco of the Texas department of public safety told local TV station KWES-TV. "It's very, very tragic."

The bus, a Ford Transit passenger van, was carrying members of the both men's and women's golf teams from a golf tournament, authorities said. The other vehicle involved was a Dodge 2500 pick-up truck.

The Ford bus had been travelling northbound on the FM1788 roadway in Texas, while the Dodge pick-up was travelling southbound.

"For unknown reasons, the Dodge pick-up- drove into the northbound lane and struck the Ford passenger van head-on," Mr Blanco said. "Both vehicles caught fire and burned."

The golf teams had been returning from a tournament at Midland College, about 300 miles (480km) west of Dallas.

The university is "shocked and saddened" by the loss, the school said in a statement.

Two of the bus passengers are undergoing medical treatment in Lubbock, Texas, it said.

An investigation has been opened into the crash and the university has said it is working to notify relatives of those involved.

The University of the Southwest is a private, Christian school in Hobbs, New Mexico, close to the state's border with Texas.