TISHOMINGO, OKLA. — Six teenage students have been killed in a two-vehicle collision in southern Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Tuesday.
The students were in a passenger vehicle that collided with a semi about 12:30 p.m. in Tishomingo, a rural city of about 3,000 located about 100 miles (161 kilometres) southwest of Oklahoma City, according to OHP spokesperson Sarah Stewart.
The girls were eastbound on Oklahoma 22 when their vehicle was struck by a rock hauler that was approaching from the east on U.S. 377, OHP Trooper Shelby Humphrey told KXII-TV of nearby Sherman, Texas.
Maps show the intersection is at the end of a 90-degree curve of U.S. 377 from east to south. The girls’ car was making a right turn when it collided with the truck, Humphrey said.
Stewart said she did not have the exact ages of the students, but all six victims were female. The condition of the semi driver was not immediately known.
Images from the scene of the crash showed a virtually destroyed black vehicle with what appeared to be a pink steering wheel among the rubble.
Tishomingo Public School Superintendent Bobby Waitman said in a Facebook post that the district had "a great loss" involving students from the district’s high school.
"Our hearts are broken, and we are grieving with our students and staff," said Waitman, who did not immediately return a phone call on Tuesday.
Waitman said counsellors would be available at the high school throughout the night Tuesday and that school would be open on Wednesday with a focus on "the emotional well-being of our students."
