VICTORIA, TEXAS (AP) -- Authorities say a bus was sideswiped by another vehicle and careened into a light pole along a southeastern Texas highway, killing one passenger and injuring 21 other people on board.
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Gerald Bryant told the Houston Chronicle that the Valley Transit Greyhound bus travelling from Houston to the border city of McAllen crashed just south of Victoria late Wednesday.
He says a pickup truck pulling onto the highway sideswiped the bus and caused it to veer into the utility pole.
The agency says 53-year-old Juanita Lopez-Perez of Matamoros, Mexico, was killed and 21 others on board were taken to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening.
The pickup truck driver was issued a ticket for failing to yield the right of way at an intersection.
Greyhound Bus Company Statement
At approximately 9 p.m. on May 11, Valley Transit bus 10807, schedule 851 traveling from Houston to Corpus Christi, TX (final stop McAllen, TX), was involved in an accident. The coach was southbound on Highway 77 when an adverse vehicle with vehicle in tow made contact with the right front of the bus. The bus struck a light pole in the median of the highway.
Twenty-five (25) passengers and one driver were on board the coach. Sadly, we have learned that one passenger passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with the passenger's family and friends at this difficult time.
Twenty-one (21) passengers were transported to area hospitals as a precaution. Seventeen (17) were treated and released, and four (4) were admitted with non-life threatening injuries. The driver - who has been with the company since 1995 - was not injured.
Three (3) uninjured passengers, as well as the 17 passengers treated and released, continued their journey on a relief bus.
The investigation is ongoing, and we are fully assisting local authorities.
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