Prison Bus Strikes Train in West Texas, Leaving at Least 10 Dead

January 15, 2015

A county sheriff says at least 10 people are dead after a bus carrying state prisoners skidded off an icy highway overpass in West Texas, slid down an embankment and collided with a train.

Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson says the overpass on Interstate 20 was slick with ice Wednesday morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway just west of Odessa.

Justice department spokesman Jason Clark says the bus was carrying 12 prisoners and three corrections officers. Clark says the bus was taking the inmates from a prison in Abilene to another in El Paso.

A spokeswoman says Medical Center Hospital in Odessa is treating five patients but had no additional information.

Topics Texas

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