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Bus carrying elderly evacuees burns; 24 dead
Fire engulfs vehicle carrying elderly from Houston area nursing home
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 10:12 a.m. ET Sept. 23, 2005
DALLAS - The flight from the danger posed by Hurricane Rita turned deadly early Friday as a bus filled with elderly evacuees from the Houston area burst into flames on traffic-packed Interstate 45, leaving as many as 24 people dead, according to local officials.
"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokesman Don Peritz said. He said he believed 24 people were killed, but that number could change.
Separately, the Dallas County Fire Marshal's office told NBC News that 24 were killed in the tragedy.
The bus was carrying 43 people who had been traveling since Thursday from a nursing home or managed care facility near Houston, Peritz said.
Early indications were that the bus caught fire because of mechanical problems, possibly overheated brakes, then passengers' oxygen tanks started exploding, he said.
A blackened, burned out shell
The fire reduced the vehicle to a blackened, burned-out shell with large blue tarps covering many seats, surrounded by about 20 police cars and ambulances.
Tina Jones, a nurse from Ennis, was driving behind the bus when she saw it start to smoke and pull to the side of the road.
"I saw the smoke and then there was an explosions," said Jones, who pulled over and helped treat some passengers who suffered cuts and bruises. She said she saw at least six bodies.
"I'll probably go home and have a good cry," she said.
the whole story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9449949/
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 10:12 a.m. ET Sept. 23, 2005
DALLAS - The flight from the danger posed by Hurricane Rita turned deadly early Friday as a bus filled with elderly evacuees from the Houston area burst into flames on traffic-packed Interstate 45, leaving as many as 24 people dead, according to local officials.
"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokesman Don Peritz said. He said he believed 24 people were killed, but that number could change.
Separately, the Dallas County Fire Marshal's office told NBC News that 24 were killed in the tragedy.
The bus was carrying 43 people who had been traveling since Thursday from a nursing home or managed care facility near Houston, Peritz said.
Early indications were that the bus caught fire because of mechanical problems, possibly overheated brakes, then passengers' oxygen tanks started exploding, he said.
A blackened, burned out shell
The fire reduced the vehicle to a blackened, burned-out shell with large blue tarps covering many seats, surrounded by about 20 police cars and ambulances.
Tina Jones, a nurse from Ennis, was driving behind the bus when she saw it start to smoke and pull to the side of the road.
"I saw the smoke and then there was an explosions," said Jones, who pulled over and helped treat some passengers who suffered cuts and bruises. She said she saw at least six bodies.
"I'll probably go home and have a good cry," she said.
the whole story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9449949/
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