3 killed when truck slams into school bus carrying marching band, Texas officials say

Three people are dead and more than a dozen injured after a pickup truck smashed head-on into a school bus carrying a West Texas high school marching band on Friday, Nov. 19, officials told news outlets.

There were 28 people on board the school bus, three adults and 25 students, from Andrews High School, KCBD reported.

The band was traveling on I-20 near Big Spring -- about an hour east of Andrews -- when a wrong-way driver in a Ford F-350 collided with them, the state Department of Public Safety told KTRK. After striking the first bus, the truck hit another behind it, then burst into flames.

The driver of the first bus, 69-year-old Mark Boswell, was killed, along with the Andrews ISD band director, 53-year-old Darin Johns, the outlet reported. Nathan Haile, the pickup driver, also died.

It’s not clear why Haile was driving west on the eastbound lanes, DPS told KCBD.

No students died, but at least 13 were injured, two of whom were airlifted to a hospital in Lubbock, officials told KWES.

The town of Andrews is about 30 miles north of Odessa.

Gov. Greg Abbott spoke out about the crash over the weekend in a tweet, thanking first responders, and asking for prayers.

“[DPS] is working closely with local officials to investigate the accident,” Abbott said.