The OGA Charters bus originating from the Rio Grande Valley headed to the Kickapoo Casino Hotel in Eagle Pass rolled over shortly after 1 p.m. local time, according to KENS5. No other vehicles were involved.
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Priscilla Salinas, a spokeswoman for Laredo Medical Center, said some passengers from the bus being treated at that hospital were in stable condition.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators will look at the operations of the charter bus company and have requested inspection and maintenance records for the bus.
The Webb County medical examiner, Dr. Corinne Stern, said the crash was the “worst commercial vehicle accident” she had seen in the decade she had worked for the county.
Investigators are working to determine if rain was a factor in the accident.
Webb county authorities said they do not know what caused the crash. Not only that, the bus company had failed an inspection three months earlier and didn’t have the authority to leave Texas; nor was it equipped to measure the bus’ standards. The Motor Carrier Safety Administration found driver records were incomplete, drivers spent too much time on the road, buses operated with discolored or damaged windshields and brakes were not properly maintained. His name and the names of passengers were not immediately available. No one could be reached at the company’s listed phone number.
It is believed one of the deadliest bus accidents in Texas in recent years. He said he was still researching what kind of business arrangements, if any, the casino may have with bus companies, but declined further comment.
Earlier this month, a Dallas County jury awarded almost $11 million to relatives of two passengers who died following a 2013 casino tour bus crash.
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Several employees from La Joya Independent School District were on the bus, according to The Monitor. Laredo about 150 miles southwest of San Antonio.
