ODESSA, Texas — Eight inmates and two corrections officers died Wednesday when a prison bus skidded off an icy West Texas highway, slid down an embankment and collided with a freight train, authorities said.
The overpass on Interstate 20 was slick with ice Wednesday morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway in Penwell, west of Odessa, said Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed the 10 deaths, adding that four prisoners and one corrections officer were injured.
“It’s as bad as you can imagine,” said Odessa Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Kavin Tinney to the Odessa American newspaper. “In 32 years, it’s as bad as anything I’ve seen.”
Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Department of Criminal Justice, said the bus was taking the inmates from the Middleton prison in Abilene to the Sanchez prison in El Paso. The prisoners were handcuffed together in pairs. The Associated Press
