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As many as 24 killed in Texas bus fire
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-23 21:54
A bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire and was
rocked by explosions early Friday on a gridlocked highway near Dallas, killing
as many as 24 people, authorities said.
"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," Dallas County Sheriff's
Department spokesman Don Peritz said. He said he believes 24 people were killed,
but that number could change.
The bus, with about 45 people on board, had been traveling since Thursday.
Peritz declined to give details on who the passengers were except to say they
were from a nursing home in Bellaire, an upscale enclave within Houston.
Early indications were that it caught fire because of mechanical problems,
then passengers' oxygen tanks started exploding, Peritz said. He said the brakes
may have been on fire.
The bus was engulfed with flames, causing a lengthy backup on Interstate 45
already congested with evacuees from the Gulf Coast. The bus was reduced to a
blackened, burned-out shell with large blue tarps covering many seats,
surrounded by police cars and ambulances.
Tina Jones, a nurse from Ennis, was driving behind the bus when she saw it
start to smoke and pull to the side of the road.
"I saw the smoke and then there was an explosions," said Jones, who pulled
over and helped treat cuts and bruises. She said she saw at least six bodies.
"I'll probably go home and have a good cry," she said.
Peritz said the driver survived. "It's my understanding he went back on the
bus several times to try to evacuate people," he said.
Interstate 45 stretches more than 250 miles from Galveston through Houston to
Dallas. The crash site is roughly 17 miles southeast of downtown Dallas.
Gov. Rick Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said traffic on I-45 would be diverted
at Ennis, about 30 miles southeast of Dallas. She said it was unclear how far
the gridlock extended.
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