State police say the bus was owned by Florida-based Vasquez Citrus and Hauling and was traveling from Michigan to Texas when it left the highway and hit an overpass on Interstate 40 early Friday with 22 people on board.
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Many other people were also injured in the crash at about 1 a.m. along Interstate 40 in North Little Rock and were transported for care by ambulance, state police said.
The American Red Cross tended to eight people on the bus who were uninjured, Regional Communications Director Brigette Williams said.
Westbound I-40 traffic near the crash was initially diverted through North Little Rock, but one westbound lane through the crash scene had been opened by 3 a.m. Williams said mental health counseling would be offered to the group, who were put up in a hotel in town by the company they work for. Two were treated and released and a third was admitted to the hospital in fair condition, UAMS said.
Television station KTHV posted a photo showing a white bus with “Continental” in broad letters on the side being towed from the scene, its roof partially crumpled.
The bus had just been sold by Jeff Lawson, who owns Continental Charters in Detroit.
State police say Vasquez has agreed to be tested for drugs and alcohol as is routine in crash investigations, but Maj. He said his agency was not pursuing any kind of criminal investigation of the people involved.
Lawson declined to comment further but CBS News reported that he said the buyer told him he needed a second bus to haul people from Detroit to Texas and Florida. A “Continental” sign was still visible on the wrecked bus on Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators to Arkansas to look into safety issues related to the crash, spokesman Eric Weiss said.
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Reuters called the company, and a woman hung up the phone. Police said officers were working with the Mexican Consulate in an effort to notify the next of kin, though the victims’ nationalities have not been confirmed.
