Eight people were killed when a bus packed with members of a church group blew a tire and slammed into oncoming traffic, officials in the US state of Tennessee said Wednesday.
A statement from the Tennessee Department of Safety said the bus carrying 18 people veered into an opposite lane and collided with an SUV and a tractor-trailer before overturning.
A preliminary toll of fatalities said 6 people traveling on the bus had died along with 1 person traveling in the SUV and 1 aboard the tractor-trailer, which burst into flames following the collision.
A further 14 people were injured, including 4 people who were airlifted from the crash site on Jefferson County’s Interstate 40 freeway, Tennessee Department of Safety spokeswoman Dalya Qualls said in a statement to AFP.
Local media reports said the bus was owned by a North Carolina baptist church and had been ferrying senior citizens traveling home from a church event in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.