A bus full of construction workers hit a firetruck on an elevated highway Sunday, killing two people and injuring about 40, Louisiana State Police said.
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The incident started when a speeding pickup truck spun out of control, bouncing from one side of the road to the other before coming to rest along the right lane and shoulder of Interstate 10 near the community of Laplace, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of New Orleans, Matey said.
St. John Fire District Chief Spencer Chauvin was killed and two other firefighters remain hospitalized.
The accident occurred on Sunday morning near Laplace, Louisiana, on Interstate 10. It is heartbreaking, especially after this same group of individuals helped to guide St. John the Baptist Parish safely through Hurricane Isaac, the February tornado and the flood event last week. Additional charges were expected. “Authorities said he is in the country illegally and should not have been behind the wheel of the bus, or any vehicle”.
It’s unclear if Rodriguez was an employee of AM Party Bus and Kristina’s Transportation LLC, which are the two names of the company that the bus belonged to. She said the bus then veered behind the fire truck and into the first pickup truck, a 2005 Nissan Titan.
Police are still investigating the crash, she said. As State Police and a St. John’s Parish fire crew responded to the accident, the bus Rodriguez was driving reportedly traveled directly into the scene of the minor accident at an excessive speed; crashing into the fire truck and then hitting another vehicle which caused a auto pile-up.
The bus hit the fire truck, then hit a vehicle, and then veered behind the fire truck and into the pickup truck, knocking three firefighters who were standing near the guard rail into the water below, Matey said.
Forty-one people were transported to local hospitals, Acadian Ambulance Service said, including Chauvin, who was pronounced dead, Matey said. Most injuries were minor to moderate, but Matey says one firefighter is critically injured.
The Silverado contained three adults and two children, all of Kenner, Louisiana, who were taken to local hospitals with minor or moderate injuries, as were at least 24 passengers on the bus, police said.
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The front seat passenger in the Camry, Vontravous Kelly and rear seat passenger David Jones, also of Moss Point, were taken to University Medical Center, where Kelly is listed in critical condition and Jones in serious condition. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, as well as to the families of the other 2 firefighters involved in the accident”, parish president Natalie Robottom said in a statement.
