At least 7 killed in head-on bus crash in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — At least seven people were killed and others were seriously injured Thursday in a head-on crash involving a commercial passenger bus and a semi-truck along Interstate 40 in New Mexico, near the Arizona border, authorities said. They said passengers were transported to a hospital and a phone number was set up for family members seeking more information about people who were aboard the bus. At least seven people were killed in the crash and many of the 49 passengers aboard the Greyhound bus were injured although authorities couldn't immediately provide an exact count of how many were hurt or their conditions. More than 33 patients have been transported to local area hospitals with injuries, some are said to be in critical condition, officials said. “I was talking to the driver of the tractor trailer and when I flagged what happened and talked to the driver, he said his front drive tire popped on him and so it took him into the medium onto oncoming traffic right into the Greyhound upon impact, which I’m not too sure of the details. Information about the bus posted on the company website said it had stops scheduled in Grants, N.M., Gallup, N.M., Holbrook; Flagstaff; Glendale; and Phoenix, where it was scheduled to arrive at 4:25 p.m.

An electronic schedule board at the main Phoenix Greyhound station Thursday afternoon showed the bus' arrival time still posted, though it was listed as a few minutes after 4:30 p.m. "We are fully cooperating with local authorities and will also complete an investigation of our own," Greyhound spokeswoman Crystal Booker said in a statement. Traffic was backed up along the interstate near the town of Thoreau as westbound lanes were blocked. The crash shut the highway in both directions for hours, but by 8 p.m. one lane of the westbound interstate reopened along with both eastbound lanes, state police tweeted. New Mexico State Police they are working to identify the victims and trying to track their relatives.
At least eight people are reported dead and many sent to hospitals after a bus crash on a New Mexico highway.