Head-on crash kills 6 and critically injures 3 on North Texas highway

CLEBURNE, Texas (AP) — A pickup truck slammed head-on into a minivan on a north Texas highway, killing six people and critically injuring three others, Texas authorities said Wednesday.

The deadly crash happened Tuesday near Cleburne, about 33 miles (53 kilometers) south of Fort Worth, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

A preliminary investigation shows a southbound Silverado pickup truck driven by a 17-year-old from the nearby town of Glen Rose entered the northbound lanes in a no-passing zone and crashed head-on into a Honda Odyssey minivan, the sheriff’s office said.

The crash killed the 28-year-old male driver of the minivan, who was from Irving, Texas, and five passengers in the vehicle who ranged in age from 9 to 64, all of whom were from Alpharetta, Georgia, the sheriff’s office reported.

A seventh passenger in the van, a 26-year-old Georgia man, and two 17-year-olds in the pickup truck were transported to a Fort Worth hospital in critical condition. The names of the dead and injured were not immediately released.

“It’s a devastating scene and very emotional for all involved,” the sheriff’s office said in a post on its Facebook page.

Officials from the Texas Department of Safety were working Wednesday with Georgia officials to locate relatives of the victims and identify them.