HIGHLAND, Ill. — A Greyhound passenger bus crashed into three tractor-trailers parked along a highway exit to a rest area early Wednesday in southern Illinois, killing three people and injuring 14 others, some seriously, state police said.
The bus was traveling west on Interstate 70 in Madison County about 1:55 a.m. when it crashed into the three semis, Illinois State Police said.
Helicopters took four people to the hospital and at ambulances transported at least 10 others, state police said in a news release. Police did not immediately release details about those injured or killed.
A damaged Greyhound bus is prepared for transport Wednesday after a fatal wreck on Interstate 70 near Highland, Ill.
No one in the three trucks was injured in the crash east of St. Louis, police said.
State police spokesperson Melaney Arnold said those killed and injured were all on the bus.
Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents Greyhound drivers, said in a Facebook post that the driver was in serious condition at a hospital.
People are also reading…
The crash closed westbound traffic on I-70.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it will send a team to investigate the crash. U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, an Illinois Republican, said an NTSB official told him the bus was equipped with monitoring cameras "so they'll be able to do a full check to see how the accident occurred."
Officials survey a damaged tractor-trailer Wednesday after a fatal crash on Interstate 70 near Highland, Ill.
Photos and TV footage show the side of the bus peeled open, the roof crumpled.
Passenger Edward Alexander of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he helped a pregnant woman get off the bus and was searching for his phone when he "realized smoke was coming in the bus. I was like, 'forget that phone,' and went on and jumped out the window."
Edward Alexander was headed to his home in Pine Bluff, Ark. on a Greyhound bus when it collided with three tractor-trailers on a rest area off ramp in Highland, Ill. on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Video by Robert Cohen.
Edwin Brown, 22, of Friars Point, Mississippi, told the Post-Dispatch that he felt the bus shake as it passed over rumble strips before the side of the vehicle “opened up like a can opener.” The driver was in and out of consciousness as Brown turned the ignition off with the help of a trucker, he said.
Greyhound spokesperson Mike Ogulnick said in an email that the bus was traveling from Indianapolis and was scheduled to arrive about 2:20 a.m. in St. Louis. It was carrying about 30 people, including the driver, he said. Another bus was sent to transport passengers who were not hurt, he said.
It is illegal in Illinois for trucks to park on exit ramps, but trucking industry experts say semis often stop there for the night because overnight parking is hard to find at rest stops and other places, such as truck stops.
Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it will require trucks and buses to include automatic emergency braking equipment within five years. AEBs automatically apply the brakes if the driver has not done so or applies additional braking force to supplement the driver's actions.
