Three people have died in Illinois Wednesday after a Greyhound bus crashed into a trio of commercial motor vehicles along Interstate 70 in Madison County, state police say.
The fatal accident outside of St. Louis happened around 2 a.m., according to investigators.
"Initial investigation indicates a Greyhound passenger bus with passengers was traveling westbound on Interstate 70 and struck three commercial motor vehicles parked on the exit ramp to the Silver Lake Interstate 70 westbound rest area," Illinois State Police said on Facebook. "Three fatalities are confirmed and multiple others were taken to a hospital with serious injuries, four by helicopter and at least 10 by ambulance."
State police spokesperson Melaney Arnold told The Associated Press that those killed and injured were all on the Greyhound bus.
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The accident closed down the ramp to the rest area for hours before it later was reopened Wednesday morning. For a period of time, traffic on I-70 westbound was reduced to just one lane.
Television footage of the scene shows the badly damaged right front portion of the bus wedged onto the rear of a tractor-trailer. The roof of the bus is crumpled. A second tractor-trailer appears to have made contact with the right rear of the bus while a third tractor-trailer appears to have crashed into the rear of that second semi.
Greyhound spokesperson Mike Ogulnick told FOX Business in an email, "We can confirm an incident occurred this morning involving Greyhound schedule number 1675 traveling from Indianapolis to St. Louis."
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"Multiple passengers, including our driver, have been transported to the hospital. Our primary concern is ensuring we care for our passengers and driver at this time," he added. "We are working closely with local authorities."
Earlier this year, a woman died in Dallas, Texas, after being struck by a Greyhound bus, according to KDFW.
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In that incident, she reportedly was in a crosswalk around midnight on Jan. 27 when she was struck, the station reported.
That bus was heading to Monterrey, Mexico, and police said at the time that the driver claimed he did not see the woman, KDFW also said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
