Ten church members injured in van accident

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CNN) -- One teen-age girl was critically injured and nine other passengers suffered injuries Saturday when the driver lost control of a church van.

Eight children were taken to University Hospital in San Antonio, where one was in critical condition and seven in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. Most of the injuries were bumps and bruises, she said.

A woman and a girl were taken to Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB, in San Antonio, where a hospital spokesman said they were in stable condition.

The driver, a 44-year-old pastor of a Dallas church, told police he and the van's 11 passengers was returning from a church visit to Monterey, Mexico, when the accident happened. He was traveling north on I-35 at 7:30 a.m. in the right-hand lane of the highway, just outside the San Antonio city limits, when a car approached his van too closely.

The driver told authorities he swerved to avoid the car and lost control of the van, said Tammy Burr, of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department.

"After that, he doesn't remember," Burr said of the driver.

Witnesses said the van hit a guardrail head-on, Burr said. The van then reportedly rolled over and slid into another guardrail on the access road, which caused it to flip again.

A 16-year-old girl seated directly behind the driver was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the van, which landed on top of her, Burr said. She is in critical condition.

She and the 17-year-old girl who was seated next to her were taken by helicopter to University Hospital.

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University of Texas Health Science Center - San Antonio
Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center
Bexar County Sheriff's Office, San Antonio, TX

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