Sat Sep 27, 2014 4:08pm EDT
1 of 2. The North Central Texas College bus that was involved in a crash is being removed near Ardmore, Oklahoma September 26, 2014 in this still image captured from KXAS TV video footage.
Credit: Reuters/Courtesy KXAS/Handout
<span id="articleText"/> (Reuters) - Four members of a women's college softball team were killed and a dozen other people were injured when a truck crashed into the players' bus on an Oklahoma highway late on Friday, authorities said.
<span id="midArticle_0"/> The crash occurred around 9 p.m. when a semi truck crossed over a median into oncoming traffic north of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and collided with the bus, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Captain Ronnie Hampton said.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> Three members of the "Lady Lions" North Central Texas College softball team were pronounced dead at the scene, and a fourth player died after being taken to a hospital, Hampton said.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> "This is the most traumatic event that NCTC has had in it's 90 years of history," the college's president, Brent Wallace, told reporters on Saturday, crying as he spoke.
<span id="midArticle_3"/> Fifteen members of the team were on the bus with their coach traveling back from a game at Southern Nazarene University, about 150 miles north of their college in Gainesville, Texas.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> After the crash on Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma, multiple students were rushed to hospitals, two by helicopter and the others by ambulance.
<span id="midArticle_5"/> The truck driver was hospitalized as well, Hampton said. The softball team's coach, who was driving the school bus, refused treatment at the scene.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> The conditions of the injured were not immediately available.
<span id="midArticle_7"/> Both vehicles were severely damaged, but fires did not break out, Hampton said.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> A homicide investigation was under way and the National Transportation Safety Board was arriving on Saturday to investigate, the officer said.
<span id="midArticle_9"/> Wallace described his college, and especially its sports teams, as being tight-knit.
<span id="midArticle_10"/> In response to the crash, games scheduled for the school's sports teams were canceled over the weekend.
<span id="midArticle_11"/> "We have made a decision to bring back some of our other traveling teams because it has impacted their emotions," Wallace said.
<span id="midArticle_12"/> On social media, people sent their condolences to the families of the women who were killed or injured. The women's names have not been released.
<span id="midArticle_13"/> "We lost four beautiful amazing girls," the softball team wrote on its Facebook page on Saturday. "Such sweet lives gone way too soon!"
<span id="midArticle_14"/> A vigil is scheduled for Sunday at the college, Wallace said.
<span id="midArticle_15"/><span id="midArticle_0"/><span id="midArticle_1"/> (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Pravin Char, Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney)
<span id="midArticle_2"/>
1 of 2. The North Central Texas College bus that was involved in a crash is being removed near Ardmore, Oklahoma September 26, 2014 in this still image captured from KXAS TV video footage.
Credit: Reuters/Courtesy KXAS/Handout
<span id="articleText"/> (Reuters) - Four members of a women's college softball team were killed and a dozen other people were injured when a truck crashed into the players' bus on an Oklahoma highway late on Friday, authorities said.
<span id="midArticle_0"/> The crash occurred around 9 p.m. when a semi truck crossed over a median into oncoming traffic north of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and collided with the bus, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Captain Ronnie Hampton said.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> Three members of the "Lady Lions" North Central Texas College softball team were pronounced dead at the scene, and a fourth player died after being taken to a hospital, Hampton said.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> "This is the most traumatic event that NCTC has had in it's 90 years of history," the college's president, Brent Wallace, told reporters on Saturday, crying as he spoke.
<span id="midArticle_3"/> Fifteen members of the team were on the bus with their coach traveling back from a game at Southern Nazarene University, about 150 miles north of their college in Gainesville, Texas.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> After the crash on Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma, multiple students were rushed to hospitals, two by helicopter and the others by ambulance.
<span id="midArticle_5"/> The truck driver was hospitalized as well, Hampton said. The softball team's coach, who was driving the school bus, refused treatment at the scene.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> The conditions of the injured were not immediately available.
<span id="midArticle_7"/> Both vehicles were severely damaged, but fires did not break out, Hampton said.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> A homicide investigation was under way and the National Transportation Safety Board was arriving on Saturday to investigate, the officer said.
<span id="midArticle_9"/> Wallace described his college, and especially its sports teams, as being tight-knit.
<span id="midArticle_10"/> In response to the crash, games scheduled for the school's sports teams were canceled over the weekend.
<span id="midArticle_11"/> "We have made a decision to bring back some of our other traveling teams because it has impacted their emotions," Wallace said.
<span id="midArticle_12"/> On social media, people sent their condolences to the families of the women who were killed or injured. The women's names have not been released.
<span id="midArticle_13"/> "We lost four beautiful amazing girls," the softball team wrote on its Facebook page on Saturday. "Such sweet lives gone way too soon!"
<span id="midArticle_14"/> A vigil is scheduled for Sunday at the college, Wallace said.
<span id="midArticle_15"/><span id="midArticle_0"/><span id="midArticle_1"/> (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Pravin Char, Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney)
<span id="midArticle_2"/>
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