At least eight people were killed in a bus crash on a Florida highway Tuesday morning, the Florida Highway Patrol said. According to the highway patrol, the bus collided with a pickup truck on state road 40 in Marion County, which is located south of Gainesville and northwest of Orlando, APA reports citing CBS News.
Approximately 40 people, including the truck driver, were taken to area hospitals after the crash, Highway Patrol Lt. Pat Riordan said during a news conference. Some of the injured were in very serious condition, Riordan said.
The crash involved a bus transporting about 53 farm workers and a 2001 Ford Ranger truck, the highway patrol said in a statement to CBS News.
The retired school bus was traveling west on the highway and the pickup truck was going east when the truck moved toward the center line at around 6:35 a.m., Riordan said.
The bus and truck collided in "a sideswipe-type manner," Riordan said. The collision sent the bus off the road and it went through a fence and hit a tree before it overturned.
It wasn't immediately known why the truck moved toward the center line, Riordan said.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office said on social media the part of the highway where the crash occurred would be shut down for most of the day.
The highway patrol is investigating the crash. Riordan said investigators will need at least six months to conduct the investigation.
