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The six teenage girls who were killed when their car collided with a semi-truck in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, reportedly have been identified by friends and family online.
The crash occurred shortly after noon Tuesday in Tishomingo, a rural city of about 3,000 located about 100 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, the Utah Highway Patrol said. Those killed included the 16-year-old driver, three 15-year-olds, and two 17-year-old passengers.
OKLAHOMA CRASH WITH SEMI-TRUCK LEAVES 6 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEAD
Authorities haven’t released the identities of the six victims because they are juveniles. But family and friends have identified the teens online as Gracie Machado, Brooklyn Triplett, Austin Holt, Madison Robertson, Addison Gratz and Memory Wilson, according to the New York Post.
The students were in a passenger vehicle that collided with a semi about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in Tishomingo, which is about 100 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
(KOKI-TV)
“Please pray for my daughter she lost her sister yesterday in the wreck in tishimingo (sic),” Natalie Houston wrote on Facebook with photos of Austin Holt. “She is having a hard time and feels like it’s a joke. I don’t know why these tragic things happen.”
Only the 16-year-old driver and front-seat passenger were wearing seat belts when the 2015 Chevrolet Spark collided with the truck, according to the Highway Patrol. The small car that the six teens were driving only seated four passengers, the patrol said.
In this photo posted on Facebook provided by the Johnston County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office is the scene of a deadly two-vehicle collision on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Tishomingo, Okla.
(Johnston County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Office via AP)
Oklahoma is the only state where passengers who are older than 7 years old and in the back seat of a car do not have to wear a seat belt, said Leslie Gamble, the manger of public and government relations for AAA-Oklahoma.
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The crash report, released Wednesday morning, said the circumstances of the wreck remained under investigation. But Highway Patrol Trooper Shelby Humphrey said Tuesday night that the girls’ car was making a right turn when it collided with the truck, KXII-TV reported.
The Highway Patrol identified the driver of the truck as Valendon Burton, 51, of Burneyville, Oklahoma. The report said Burton was not injured.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
