At least eight people were killed and dozens of others were injured Tuesday after a bus carrying migrant farmworkers in central Florida collided with a pickup truck driven by a man under the influence, authorities said.
A retired school bus was carrying 53 migrant workers when it collided with an oncoming Ford pickup truck that had veered toward the road’s centerline, according to Lt. Patrick Riordan, a spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol, which is investigating.
The bus then drove through a fence, hit a tree and overturned, Riordan said at a news conference, adding that the collision happened in a “sideswipe manner.”
The driver of the pickup truck, Bryan MacLean Howard, 41, was arrested on eight counts of DUI manslaughter, authorities said Tuesday afternoon.
It was unclear Tuesday evening if Howard had legal representation.
In Florida, a DUI manslaughter conviction carries a minimum sentence of four years in prison.
All eight people who died had been on the bus. About 40 others, including Howard, were taken to hospitals to be treated for injuries, Riordan said. He said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon at the crash site that several people were in critical condition, adding that there was a “high probability” that the number of fatalities would rise.
At least some of the workers were from Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary, said on social media.
“I am sorry to report that a tragic car accident occurred in Florida involving Mexican farm workers,” she wrote.
Authorities did not immediately release the names of those killed in the crash and said notifying the victims’ next of kin was complicated by the fact that the workers came from abroad.
Authorities did not confirm where the bus was traveling, but WCJB-TV reported the bus was carrying workers employed at a watermelon farm in the area.
Cannon Farms, a farm and market in Dunnellon, Florida, said it would be closed until further notice out of respect for “the losses and injuries endured” in the accident. The company did not answer calls seeking comment.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said a stretch of state Highway 40, where the crash occurred, would be closed for most of the day.
The workers had permits to work and were part of a trove of people who arrive to rural Marion County each spring to harvest produce, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods told reporters.
“This time of year, we always have migrant workers that are in our county that are on buses just like this,” he said.
Woods said it was unclear if the passengers were wearing seat belts.
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