TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A bus crash killed eight people and injured dozens of others on a highway in Marion County, Florida, Tuesday morning.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash happened on West Highway 40 at 6:35 a.m.
Troopers said a 2010 International bus, which carried 53 farm workers, and a Ford Ranger truck sideswiped each other — causing the bus to swerve off the road.
The bus then crashed into a fence and flipped, killing eight people. The FHP said about 40 people were hospitalized while Marion County Fire Rescue said 38 people were hospitalized, eight of them in critical condition.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said the workers were migrants who were hired to do agricultural work in Florida. Woods said he believed they were in the country legally.
“They’re hard-working individuals,” he said. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with them being here.”
“Some of those are also in very serious condition, so there’s high probability this may be beyond eight fatalities,” said Lt. Pat Riordan, public affairs officer for the Florida Highway Patrol. “The driver of the Ford pickup was also transported to the hospital with serious injuries.”
Woods said over 30 ambulances were on the scene to help get the victims out of the bus.
A spokesperson for Marion County Public Schools also told Nexstar’s WFLA that the district sent a school bus to the scene to help transport patients to get treatment.
AdventHealth Ocala is providing treatment to 12 patients from the crash at the main emergency department, and to four others at AdventHealth Timber Ridge.
Riordan said the crash is being investigated as a traffic homicide, but it could take six months for the FHP to complete the investigation. The bus is also being inspected at this time.
The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunnellon.
“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp.,” Cannon Farms announced on its Facebook page. “Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”
Cannon Farms describes itself as a family owned commercial farming operation that has farmed its land for more than 100 years, focusing now on peanuts and watermelons, which it sends to grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada.
No one answered the phone at Olvera Trucking on Tuesday afternoon. The company had recently advertised for a temporary driver to bus workers to watermelon fields. The driver would then operate harvesting equipment. The pay was $14.77 an hour.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.