THOREAU, N.M. — New Mexico state police said the death toll had increased to seven in a fatal crash Thursday involving a Greyhound bus and a tractor trailer. The accident occured along Interstate 40 in New Mexico, near the Arizona border. Investigators believe the tractor trailer crossed the median and hit the bus head on. The front end of the bus was ripped off and debris scattered across the highway as emergency crews desperately tried to reach victims. The bus was carrying 49 passengers and heading to Phoenix, Arizona. Many of the seriously injured people were taken to an area hospital. One trauma center reported getting six patients, with three in critical condition. "We are fully cooperating with local authorities and will also complete an investigation of our own," Greyhound spokeswoman Crystal Booker said in a statement. The crash occurred near the town of Thoreau. It forced the closure of the westbound lanes of the interstate and traffic was backing up as travelers were diverted. Mireya Villarreal contributed to this report.<doc-sep>(CNN) — A pregnant woman woman who survived the New Mexico bus crash that killed eight people gave birth to twins hours afterward, hospital officials told CNN Friday. The two children were born at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services clinic in Gallup. They were then transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, Sonlee West, a surgeon and director of the hospital’s trauma unit, said Friday. West said the children were in critical condition. The mother’s name and condition were not available. Authorities initially released the identity of only one person involved in the crash. Bus driver Luis Alvarez, 49, of Santa Teresa, New Mexico, was among those killed. On Saturday, the state Office of the Medical Investigator identified four more people who were killed. The other four were identified as Charla Bahe, 34; Terry Mason, 45; Sadie Thomas, 50; and Veronica Jean Williams, 49. They died from blunt force trauma. Officials didn’t list any other information for the victims. Chris Jones/Facebook The front of the Greyhound bus was severely damaged during the crash. The crash happened around 12:30 p.m. Thursday on I-40 between Gallup and Grants, after a tire blew out on the front driver’s side of an eastbound truck, the New Mexico State Police said. The “80,000-pound projectile” crossed the dirt median, jackknifed and collided head-on with the westbound Greyhound bus carrying 48 passengers and the driver, New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas said Friday. The violence of the impact scattered bus parts and boxes of produce, and shut down the interstate for eight hours, Kassetas said. The number of injured people overwhelmed local authorities, who ran out of ambulances, he said. #NMSP Chief Pete Kassetas gives update on Deadly New Mexico Bus Crash #NMBusCrash https://t.co/iwP9NIgeGl — NMSP (@NMStatePolice) August 31, 2018 Including the pregnant women, 26 people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, with one of them dying at a hospital, Kassetas said. Five children were hurt and survived, he said. Fifteen people were unhurt. The 35-year-old unidentified truck driver was not badly injured, Kassetas said. When asked whether charges could be filed in the crash, Kassetas said: “There could be an expectation of charges depending on the outcome of the investigation. Equipment failure itself is not a chargeable incident. There have to be other factors.” The National Transportation Safety Board sent 10 investigators. Commercial motor vehicles typically do not have a “black box,” but investigators are determining whether there are any type of recording devices on this particular vehicle, NTSB spokesperson Pete Kotowski said in a press conference. The probable cause of the accident will not be released until the investigation is complete, Kotowski said. The final report on the crash could take from 12-24 months, he said. Kassetas said the truck was owned by a Fresno, California, company and was carrying a load of produce to Memphis, Tennessee. An Albuquerque law firm representing two of the victims filed lawsuits on Friday against the semi-truck driver and the trucking company, alleging that their negligence led to the crash. In the lawsuit, the firm says the truck’s tire blew out because the California-based company and the driver failed to inspect and maintain it in good condition. The victims linked to the lawsuits are from Arizona and Ohio, the documents show. The Los Angeles-bound Greyhound bus had originally departed from St. Louis and had just made a stop in Albuquerque prior to the crash, the company said. The bus passengers were from St. Louis and Albuquerque, Kassetas said. “Tragically, a number of people have lost their lives, including our driver, who had 27 years’ experience with Greyhound,” the bus company said in a statement Friday. “Our hearts are with all those affected by this incident. We are cooperating with local authorities and the NTSB to determine the cause of the event.” A traveler who encountered the wreck, Marc Gonzales, said the scene was a “complete catastrophe,” with skid marks on the side of the road. Passengers tried to climb out the bus windows and bystanders grabbed ladders from their vehicles to try to rescue them, he said. Accident on I-40 near Thoreau, NM pic.twitter.com/irYguqaiMZ — Alex Huggins (@lxhuggins24) August 30, 2018 “It’s by far one of the worst accidents I’ve encountered. … It was horrible,” Gonzales told KRQE. “You could tell that people were distressed, screams were coming from the bus,” he said. Kassetas praised the helpful motorists, calling them “heroes.” “For them to stop and get involved is incredible,” he said. CNN’s Dave Alsup, Nicole Chavez and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
At least eight people were killed and dozens more were injured when a semi-trailer and a Greyhound bus carrying 49 people crashed on a New Mexico interstate, authorities said Friday morning. New Mexico State Police said the semi-trailer blew out a tire, crossed the median into oncoming traffic and collided with the bus on Interstate 40 near Thoreau, about 100 miles west-northwest of Albuquerque. The agency said seven people were confirmed dead at the scene; the driver of the truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries, it said. "Our sympathies are with the families whose loved ones were involved in this crash," the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator said. "Our commitment to investigate deaths to serve the living will drive our efforts to bring some closure and peace to these families, as well as to support public safety efforts." The initial death toll after the accident was seven, but the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque said Friday that one of the 11 patients brought there had died during the night. They noted that they still had nine patients, adding that three adults and one child remained in critical condition. Gallup Indian Medical Center told NBC News that it was treating about 37 patients, four to six of whom were transported to a trauma center. Greyhound had initially said 47 passengers were aboard the bus, which was traveling from Albuquerque to Phoenix. No cause had yet been determined, the company said. The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team on Friday to investigate. The New Mexico State Police announced Friday morning that both lanes of Interstate 40 had reopened despite a large pile of debris remaining on the shoulder of the roadway.