FLORIDA: Eight people were killed and 40 other passengers were injured when a bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida overturned on Tuesday, authorities said.
The bus was carrying 53 farmworkers around 6:40 a.m. when it collided with a truck in Marion County, north of Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Authorities said the bus went through a fence and ended up on its side in a field. Workers were transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon, which was harvesting watermelons.
Photos taken by the Ocala Star-Banner at the scene show the bus lying on its side with the emergency rear door and top hatch open. The truck that hit it shows extensive damage on the driver’s side.
There is no immediate indication that the weather has any effect on this.
“We will be closed today due to the losses and injuries we suffered early this morning in an accident that occurred at Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp.,” Cannon Farms announced on its Facebook page.
Cannon Farms describes itself as a family-owned commercial farm that has farmed its land for more than 100 years and now focuses on peanuts and watermelons, which it ships to grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada.
