At least three people died and 15 others were injured following a crash between a bus carrying the North Central Texas College softball team and a semi truck late Friday.
The bus was heading back to the Gainesville, Texas campus when the accident happened. Officials at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol did not immediately identify the victims.
"What we do know is that the semi was headed north on I-35 when he departed the roadway and entered the southbound lanes," Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton told The Oklahoman. "When it impacted the bus, it just kept going and went off the side of road. ... We knew we had a two-vehicle accident by what we saw at the scene. ... But it took about an hour before we found the semi."
CNN and KFOR TV Oklahoma City reported the accident happened at 9 p.m. CT on I-35 about an hour south of Oklahoma City in Murray County, Oklahoma, when a northbound tractor trailer crossed the median into the southbound lanes, colliding with the bus.
According to Hampton, the van's driver, who was also the coach of the softball team, declined treatment, as he had minor injuries. The driver of the tractor-trailer was taken to a hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, reports the Associated Press.
North Central Texas, a public, two-year college that competes in the National Junior College Athletic Association, wrote on its Facebook page, "We ask for your prayers at this time for our softball team. Their bus has been involved in an accident in Oklahoma." The school then announced it was canceling a volleyball tournament scheduled for Saturday on its campus.
