MESSY TEXAS: IT
LEADS THE NATION IN BUS/TRUCK DEATHS:
ANOTHER TEN PEOPLE KILLED, FIVE INJURED AFTER TEXAS PRISON BUS HITS
TRAIN. WEATHER MAYBE A CONTRIBUTING
FACTOR TO THIS TRAGEDY. THE NTSB WILL
INVESTIGATE.
By Jon Herskovitz and Lisa Maria Garza
AUSTIN, Texas Wed Jan 14, 2015 3:23pm EST
(Reuters) - Ten
people were killed and five severely injured when a Texas prison bus carrying
15 people skidded off an icy highway overpass and hit a moving freight train on
Wednesday, officials said.
Two correctional officers and eight inmates died from injuries
suffered in the accident near the west Texas city of Odessa, the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice said.
"It’s with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of
those killed and injured this morning in a tragic accident. Their loved ones
will be in our thoughts and prayers," said Brad Livingston, executive
director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Four of the crash victims were in critical condition and
the other was in serious condition, according to Medical Center Hospital in
Odessa.
The bus was traveling from Abilene to El Paso with 12
inmates and three corrections officers aboard. It was transporting offenders
from the Middleton Unit in Abilene, which houses male offenders and is not a
high-security facility.
The identities of those on the transport bus have not
been released.
The accident appeared to be weather-related, a
spokeswoman with the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
"It seems that there was an ice patch there on the
overpass," said Sergeant Elizabeth Barney, who added the bus crashed into
the moving train.
"It is a very horrific and tragic crash,"
Barney said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was
sending a team to investigate.
The Union Pacific railroad said the transport bus
plunged from the elevated roadway and into one of its freight trains, causing
damage to two cars. The two crew members aboard the train did not suffer
serious injuries.
"Our sympathies go out to all the victims
involved," spokesman Jeff DeGraff said.