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Seven dead in New Mexico after bus collides with truck (UPDATED)

US Materials 31 August 2018 08:59 (UTC +04:00)
Seven people were killed in New Mexico on Thursday after a Greyhound passenger bus collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck that jumped a highway median strip
Seven dead in New Mexico after bus collides with truck (UPDATED)

08:59 (GMT+4) Seven people were killed in New Mexico on Thursday after a Greyhound passenger bus collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck that jumped a highway median strip, state police said, Reuters reported.

A tire blew out on the eastbound truck, which jumped the grass median to hit the bus traveling in the opposite direction, police officer Ray Wilson told a news conference.

The bus was carrying 49 passengers, a Greyhound spokeswoman said. It collided with the truck around 12 p.m. on Interstate 40 near the city of Thoreau, about 100 miles west of Albuquerque, the state police said.

All but six of those on the bus were taken to nearby hospitals, said Wilson, adding that their injuries were minor and treated at the site. Injuries to the driver of the semi-trailer truck were not life threatening, state police said.

Greyhound Lines spokeswoman Crystal Booker said the bus was headed from Albuquerque to Phoenix, but deferred comment on the crash to the state police.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a team of its investigators would arrive on the scene early on Friday.

Investigators were uncertain of the truck’s cargo, but Wilson said, “There are a lot of vegetables” at the crash site. He did not know if speed was a contributing factor to the crash.

Pictures on social media showed a truck on its side with the trailer’s cargo scattered across the highway, and the Greyhound bus upright, but with its front end obliterated.

Gallup Indian Health Services received 37 of the injured, said Jennifer Buschick, a spokeswoman for the Gallup hospital. Six people with injuries too severe to be treated there were stabilized and taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.

Three of the six taken to UNMH were in critical condition but the condition of the rest had not been released, said spokeswoman Cindy Foster.

05:57 (GMT+4) At least four people were killed in a bus crash on Thursday on New Mexico's Interstate 40, state police said, Fox News reported.

A semi-tractor trailer experienced "a tire blowout" and ultimately collided with a Greyhound passenger bus, New Mexico State Police said on Twitter.

"Many bus passengers were transported with serious injuries," the tweet said.

Authorities revealed earlier that there were "multiple casualties" in the crash, as well as "multiple serious injuries."

20 patients were treated at the Gallup Indian Medical Center, according to Dr. Kevin Gaines, the acting chief medical officer at the hospital.

Of the 20, four were children but no ages were immediately available. Six patients were treated and sent to the University of New Mexico Hospital, four were transported to the Banner Hospital in Phoenix and 10 are still being treated at Gallup. Conditions of those being treated at Gallup ranged from good (two patients) to serious (two) and critical (one).

At least 47 passengers were riding on the Greyhound bus that was heading from Albuquerque, with at least one scheduled stop in Phoenix, the company told The Associated Press.

The passenger bus involved in the accident experienced front-end damage, while a semi-truck was discovered lying on its side. Video also showed debris scattered about the roadway and emergency responders at the scene.

A witness described the incident as “horrible,” telling KRQE that “screams were coming from the bus.”

“It was horrible there was people trying to climb out of the windows of the bus... bystanders trying to help people getting ladders out of their truck to get to windows of Greyhound bus to assist,” the witness told the outlet. "When we went by the overturned semi, everything in the trailer was out on the road. It was a disaster...you could tell people were in distress, screams were coming from bus.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) tweeted that they were sending a team to investigate.

Road closures near Thoreau occurred as a result of the crash, state police said, telling the public to “expect delays.”

The McKinley County Emergency Management set up a phone line “for family members of passengers looking for information on their relatives,” police said. The number is (505) 722-2002.

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