A WEST TEXAS PRISON
BUS ACCIDENT THAT KILLED 2 PRISON GUARDS AND 8 INMATES WAS LIKELY CAUSED WHEN
THE BUS HIT A PIECE OF DISPLACED HIGHWAY GUARDRAIL, SENDING THE VEHICLE ONTO
THE CENTER MEDIAN AND DOWN AN EMBANKMENT
January 29, 2015
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A West Texas prison bus accident that
killed two prison guards and eight inmates was likely caused when the bus hit a
piece of displaced highway guardrail, sending the vehicle onto the center
median and down an embankment, where it struck a passing freight train,
according to a preliminary federal report released Thursday.
The
National Transportation Safety Board report states that a 225-foot section of
metal guardrail was damaged in an accident the day before the Jan. 14 bus crash
in Penwell, just west of Odessa. Accident investigators placed traffic cones in
the area.
Two of three other
accidents caused by icy road conditions on Interstate 20 on the day of the bus
crash could have displaced the guardrail and pushed it into the path of the
bus, the report states.
A witness traveling
ahead of the bus told NTSB investigators that the damaged guardrail was about 2
feet into the lane where the bus was traveling, just before the bus reached the
overpass where the accident happened.
The bus was in the left
lane behind an 18-wheeler as it approached the section of guardrail and was
passing a slower-moving 18-wheeler traveling in the right lane, the report
states.
The bus, which traveled
about 22 feet across an earthen median into an open area between the eastbound
and westbound lanes, then went down a 21-foot embankment and became airborne,
the report states. The vehicle hit the base of the embankment and continued
forward toward the train.
Another guard and four
other inmates who were seriously or critically injured in the accident are
still recovering. The inmates are at prison medical facilities and the guard is
at a facility in Abilene.
No one on the Union
Pacific train, which was traveling below the maximum speed allowed for the
area, was injured.
The bus had left a
prison facility in Abilene about 4:40 a.m., bound for a prison in El Paso.
An email from the NTSB
said the investigation was expected to be completed next year.
