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Bus Carrying Evacuees Explodes; At Least 20 Dead
TV Station Reports 24 Deaths
POSTED: 7:06 am CDT September 23, 2005
UPDATED: 7:59 am CDT September 23, 2005
DALLAS -- As many as 20 nursing home patients were killed early Friday when a busload of elderly Hurricane Rita evacuees from the Houston caught fire then was rocked by a series of explosions on gridlocked Interstate 45, a Dallas County Sheriff's spokesman said.
The bus loaded with 43 passengers was engulfed with flames, causing a 17-mile backup on a freeway that was already heavily congested with evacuees from the Gulf Coast.
"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," spokesman Don Peritz said. "We believe it's gonna be closer to 20 fatalities."
A Dallas County Medical Examiner told KXAS-TV that they are expecting as many as 24 fatalities.
By early Friday morning, the bus was reduced to a blackened, burned-out shell, surrounded by numerous police cars and ambulances.
Peritz said it appears a mechanical problem aboard the bus caused a fire that reached oxygen tanks belonging to the elderly passengers.