Highway crash claims 13 members of Texas church

UPDATE: A 13th member of a Texas church group died overnight from injuries sustained in an accident that claimed the lives of 12 fellow congregants. The senior adult group from First Baptist Church of New Braunfels was on its way back from a retreat when the accident happened. "We are still grieving and we're going to grieve for a while, and we will see what tomorrow looks like and then the next day," Brad McLean, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels, Texas, told reporters Wednesday. "But we know this: We know the strength of the Lord is going to provide our next steps."

OUR EARLIER REPORT (3/29/17, 9 p.m.): Twelve members of a central Texas church died today when their small bus collided with a pickup truck. The group of 14 senior adults from First Baptist Church of New Braunfels were returning home from a three-day retreat when the accident happened about 75 miles west of San Antonio. Two church members and the driver of the truck survived. State troopers investigating the accident said it wasn’t immediately clear what happened on the two-lane highway just 9 miles from the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment in Leakey. Church pastors said in a statement they were “ministering to family members to help them deal with this tragedy.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his wife, Cecilia, sent their condolences and asked all Texans to pray for the victims’ families.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.