Band Director Among Those Killed in Texas School Bus Crash

BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) — The three men killed in a fiery West Texas crash involving a school bus carrying members of a high school band included the band director, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Saturday.

Andrews High School band director Darin Johns, 53, died Friday of injuries from the collision of the bus with a pickup truck traveling the wrong way on Interstate 20 in Big Spring, said Sgt. Justin Baker of DPS.

He said the crash occurred in an area about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Fort Worth.

The driver of the bus, Marc Elbert Boswell, 69, and the pickup’s driver, Nathan Paul Haile, 59, also died following the collision. Boswell was from Andrews and Haile from Midland.

Two of the 25 students on the bus were taken to a Lubbock hospital in critical condition and 11 students were treated at a Big Springs hospital for minor injuries, Baker said.

Baker said he did not have an update on the students’ injuries Saturday and phone calls to the school near the near the New Mexico border were not immediately returned.

Baker said the pickup was headed westbound in the eastbound lanes of the Interstate when it collided with the eastbound bus and a second Andrews bus, then burst into flames.

No injuries were reported aboard the second bus.

Baker said three buses were carrying students from Andrews High School to a high school football playoff game between Andrews and Springtown in Sweetwater. The game was postponed.