Three dead after van carrying musicians crashes in Georgia

By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - Three people were killed and eight others injured early Monday in Georgia when a van carrying musicians from two bands veered off a freeway and struck a tree, police said. The 15-passenger van was carrying 12 occupants and traveling southbound on Interstate 85 about 65 miles north of Atlanta, near the city of Commerce, when it went down an embankment and collided with a tree, the Georgia State Patrol said in a statement. Police would not release the names of the victims or the bands. However, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper reported that the musicians were members of Atlanta-based band Khaotika and Wormreich, which says on its Facebook page it is from Huntsville, Alabama. All but the driver were killed or injured, police said. Three people were critically injured in the crash, which occurred after the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel, the newspaper reported, citing a state patrol official. An agency spokesman declined to comment on a possible cause of the crash, saying that charges are pending in the case. Wormreich, which describes itself on Facebook as a "black metal" band, was slated to perform Monday night at an Atlanta bar called Graveyard Tavern, said a person in the club's office who asked not to be named. (Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky and Lisa Lambert)