Six girls killed in collision with semi-truck on school lunch break

Police lights.
Police lights. Photo credit Getty Images

In Oklahoma on Tuesday, a semi-truck and a car filled with six high school students collided, resulting in all of the students being killed, authorities reported.

The six students, all girls, had left their school campus for their lunch break when the collision happened, all but destroying their car.

During the lunch break, the student's small passenger vehicle collided with a truck at 12:30 p.m., according to Sarah Stewart, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety.

The girls involved in the crash were all between the ages of 15 and 17, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, KFOR reported.

The driver of the semi has been identified as Valendon Burton, 51, and he was not injured in the crash and was wearing his seat belt, the highway patrol said.

The vehicles collided in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, where five of the six students are residents. Tishomingo is in the south-central part of Oklahoma, 120 miles north of Dallas.

The victims' names have not been released by authorities, however, two of them were 17-years-old, three 15-years-old and the driver was 16-years-old.

The driver was the only one not from Tishomingo, as she was from Connersville, according to the highway patrol.

The highway patrol also shared that not everyone in the car was wearing their seatbelts, with the driver and front-seat passenger being the only ones buckled up.

As first responders arrived on the scene, four of the girls were pronounced dead immediately, according to the highway patrol.

Bobby Waitman, the Superintendent of Tishomingo Public Schools, shared that the students attended the local high school, adding that their deaths are a devastating loss for the community, NBC News reported.

"We love all of our students," Waitman said. "We're experiencing this loss with them."

Waitman also said that school counselors were available to speak with students who might be struggling from the travesty.

The highway patrol shared that the crash is currently under investigation.

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