3 TX Sisters, Friend Die In Bastrop Crash On Way To HS Drill Team Competition, Mother In Critical

BASTROP COUNTY, TX. (THECOUNT) — Three sisters — a high school junior, an eighth grader and a sixth grader — from Huntsville, Texas and their friend died in a two-vehicle accident in Central Texas as they traveled to watch a drill team competition in San Antonio, officials say.

Their mother, who was driving, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. The fourth girl who died was a 2018 Huntsville High School graduate.

The Texas Department of Public Safety says the wreck happened Friday night on westbound Texas 21 near Bastrop. A pickup truck rear-ended the girls’ stopped vehicle waiting to turn, reports DFWCBS.

Authorities told CBS Austin that surveillance video shows the pickup truck not stopping “until .6 seconds prior to the crash, indicating possible distraction (cell phone) in the vehicle.”

The Huntsville Independent School District released a statement on Facebook that said three siblings died.

“The Huntsville ISD community is deeply saddened to learn of the deaths of three of our students and one former student as a result of a car accident that occurred in Bastrop County late Friday evening,” the district said. “…The death of any young person, much less four, is a loss that, in one way or another, affects us all.”

The identities of the victims have not yet been released.

DPS says the pickup driver and a passenger weren’t hurt.

Geo quick facts: Bastrop is a city and the county seat of Bastrop County, Texas, United States. Located about 30 miles southeast of Austin, it is part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. The population was 7,218 according to the 2010 census – Wikipedia.

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