ANDREWS COUNTY, Texas — It has been one week since the tragic head-on crash that killed nine people, seven of them part of the University of the Southwest golf team. The two other victims were a father and son from Seminole, Texas.
On Tuesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety Crash Team shut down part of FM 1788. They spent the morning reconstructing the crash scene.
This is all part of a very detailed and thorough investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board.
During a press conference following the crash, Bruce Landsberg, the Vice Chairman for NTSB, said there are many unanswered questions, but they know that speed was a factor in the crash.
"We will be looking to download the vehicle recorders, if they survived, and we will be able to know more," said Landsberg. "Right now it is very clear there was a high-speed head-on collision between two heavy vehicles. We have thousands of pictures that were taken by the various first responders and there is no question about the force of impact."
In addition to recreating the crash site, Landsberg said they've collected evidence, done more interviews, and are now working to access the data boxes from each vehicle.
"We will be gathering additional evidence like the toxicology items and those sorts of things," said Landsberg. "Sometimes it will take a bit longer to reconstruct the damaged parts."
The NTSB announced last week that a teenager was behind the wheel of the truck that caused the crash and that it was a failed spare tire that sent the truck into the oncoming traffic. There is still more work ahead for investigators.
"Our preliminary report will be available in 2 to 3 weeks," said Landsberg. "We will take about three months to gather additional data and then there will be an in-depth analysis of all of this final report and probable cause between 12 and 18 months."
NewsWest 9 reached out to Texas DPS for an interview, but they declined to speak since it's an open investigation.
As of Tuesday evening, the road has been reopened and there are no expected closures around the crash site soon.