8 dead in bus-truck crash
A Greyhound bus driver and seven passengers were killed in a grisly head-on crash between the bus and a semitruck on a New Mexico highway Thursday.
The bus, traveling from Albuquerque to Phoenix, was on the road for about two hours when the tractor trailer traveling in the opposite direction blew a tire and lost control, police said. It careened across the median and into oncoming traffic, smashing into the bus around 12:30 p.m.
Forty-nine people were on the bus when it departed and all but six survivors were transported to the hospital. Authorities said the driver of the truck was injured but is expected to survive, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The New Mexico office of the medical investigator said the bodies of seven people who perished in the crash were transported from the scene near the Arizona border. An eighth victim was transferred from The University of New Mexico Hospital Friday morning.
“Forensic pathologists and other forensic scientists will evaluate these bodies to establish the cause of death and identity of each victim over the new few days,” a statement from the medical investigator reads.
Witnesses said the semi’s trailer was flipped upside down and “shredded to pieces” while the front of the Greyhound was entirely smashed. Part of the bus was ripped off and several of its seats were left smashed together.
Debris from wreckage covered the stretch of Interstate 40, near the town of Thoreau, where the crash unfolded. It forced closure of the westbound lanes, backing up traffic for hours.
Bystanders and motorists were quick to leap into action as first responders pulled survivors from what remained of the bus, said Chris Jones, who assisted in the rescue efforts.
“It was nonstop. There weren’t enough ambulances there to get everybody out,” Jones told CBS News. “There’s people that were stuck in the bus trying to get out, screams from inside there.”
Greyhound spokeswoman Crystal Baker in a statement said the transportation company is “fully cooperating with local authorities and will also complete an investigation of our own.”
“Tragically, a number of people have lost their lives, including our driver, who had 27 years’ experience with Greyhound. Our hearts are with all those affected by this incident,” Baker said in a statement to the Daily News.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were set to arrive on the scene Friday to assist in the probe.
Thursday’s crash is second deadly incident involving a bus and semi-truck in New Mexico this summer. Three people were killed in July after a passenger bus rolled into oncoming traffic.