Seven people, including a 6-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister, were killed after one charter bus went off the road on Interstate 20 in west Mississippi in the early hours of Saturday, authorities said.
The crash involving a 2018 Volvo bus happened around 12:40 a.m. just east of Vicksburg, about 28 miles outside of Jackson.
A total of 37 passengers were taken to area hospitals, the Mississippi Highway Patrol said. Their injuries were not immediately clear.
The bus was traveling west on I-20, between Bovina and Vicksburg, when it went off the road and turned on its sideWarren County Sheriff Martin Pace told local TV station WAPT.
Six passengers were pronounced dead at the scenewhile another victim died at a Vicksburg hospital, WJTV reported.
Authorities have not released the victims’ identities, but according to Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey, the crash killed four men and three women.
Huskey told CBS News that the 6-year-old boy and his teenage sister were both from Guatemala and were identified by his mother.
“When you have people injured or killed, it’s tragic, but when you have a situation like this where you have multiple fatalities and multiple injuries, it makes it even worse,” Pace told WAPT.
The crash is being investigated by the state highway patrol and the Mississippi Department of Public Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division.