Truck hits Chicago-bound bus, killing 2

CARTHAGE, Texas — A tractor-trailer rig slammed broadside into a passenger bus early Thursday on a rural East Texas road, killing the bus driver and a passenger and injuring four other people.

A Texas Department of Public Safety statement says the crash happened about 1 a.m. on Route 59, about eight miles north of Carthage. The bus was northbound in the right lane when it suddenly veered into the path of the northbound 18-wheeler in the left lane. The semi hit the bus in the left side behind the driver’s seat, ejecting the bus driver through the windshield and a passenger through a side window, killing both.

The DPS says three passengers suffered nonlife-threatening injuries and were treated at a Carthage hospital. Nine other passengers weren’t injured. The truck’s driver was airlifted to East Texas Medical Center in Tyler.

DPS Trooper Jean Dark says the El Expreso bus was traveling from Houston to Chicago.