9 killed in Mexico crash involving Harlingen residents

HARLINGEN - Three Harlingen residents were expected to be released from a Mexican hospital after a crash killed two fellow church members as they traveled to a missionary convention in Mexico, friends said today.

Two missionaries from California and Michigan were killed and five were injured Saturday after an on-coming car lost control when its tire blew out near Aldama, Mexico, about 90 miles north of Tampico, they said. The missionaries were riding in a van.

"There are not words to describe the devastation you feel," John Spartz, office manager of the Way of the Cross church in Harlingen, said Tuesday.

All seven passengers in the oncoming Lincoln Towncar were killed, he said.

Church members Ben Hyatt, 50, of California, and Andrea Dahms, 29, of Michigan were killed in the crash at about 4 p.m., Spartz said.

Tony Miller, Cory Martin, Wayne Suber Jr., John Grandy and a Nicaraguan man were taken to a Tampico hospital where they were treated for broken bones, Spartz said.

"They all have broken bones of one kind or another," he said. "They got their bones set."

Martin was released, he said.

The four other church members were expected to be released "within a few days," Spartz said.

The van was traveling ahead of another church van when it crashed, Spartz said.

The vans were traveling to an Aldama gathering of about 1,000 pastors from churches from Matamoros to Cuidad Victoria, Mexico, Spartz said.

"They were going to evangelize the people to talk about the salvation of Jesus Christ," Spartz said.

Members of the church, with about 100 members in the Harlingen area, were trying the cope "the only way we know how - by praying for the survivors and praising God because he is in control," Spartz said.

Mexican authorities could not be reached Tuesday morning.