Several people died Wednesday when a bus and tractor-trailer crashed 40 miles east of Knoxville, Tennessee, just past the I-40/ I-81 highway split
According to local media, the bus may have crossed the median before the two vehicles crashed. The bus flipped over and the tractor-trailer caught on fire, resulting in multiple injuries.
Emergency officials closed both directions of Interstate 40 and took victims to local hospitals.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) BRAD PHILLIPS, DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND EMS FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, SAYING:
"We transported twelve victims to the area hospitals by ground and by air and we do have confirmed fatalities at the scene."
The bus was reportedly carrying members of the Front Street Baptist Church who were returning from a Fall Jubilee.
