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Deadly Texas Bus Crash Under Investigation: Charter Bus Company Previously Violated Safety Codes

By Jennifer Ricketts
Published on: 15:53 PST, May 15, 2016

A deadly charter bus crash in far South Texas, which killed eight people and injured 44 others, is under investigation. The crash occurred just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning on U.S. Highway 83, about 46 miles north of Laredo. According to Webb County volunteer fire department chief Ricardo Rangel, the bus was headed to a casino in Eagle Pass.

Seven people died at the scene of the bus crash, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Conrad Hein said. The eighth person died later at a Laredo hospital. Twenty-three people were taken to Doctors Hospital in Laredo, 15 were taken to Laredo medical center and seven were taken to a Dimmit County hospital in Carrizo Springs.

“The driver of the bus lost control and rolled over,” Hein said. “Everything’s real preliminary right now.”

Hein also noted no other vehicles were in the area at the time.

“Our troopers are going to look into what happened, but it’s going to take us some time. We just know the driver lost control,” Hein added.

Webb County Medical Examiner Corrine Stern released the names of the victims but did not release exact ages or hometowns. The victims were identified as Altagracia Torres, Maria de Jesus Musquiz, Dora Nelly Gonzalez, Frances Guerrero, Marisela Lopez, Adelfa Garza, Jaime Navarro, and Emma Rodriguez Zamudio. Their ages ranged from 52 to 83.

Stern said the bus crash is the worst accident she’s seen in the region in a decade. Several victims were thrown from the bus on impact.

In a statement Saturday night, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “I ask the entire State of Texas to keep the families of loved ones lost today, as well as the Dimmit County community, in its thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

The driver of the charter bus is still in the hospital with major injuries and has not been interviewed by police yet, according to ABC News. The name of the bus driver has not been released.

Investigators began searching on Sunday morning for what caused the deadly bus crash. The Department of Public Safety is conducting its own investigation separate from that of the National Transportation Safety Board. It was raining Saturday morning, but it isn’t clear at this time if weather played a role in the crash.

OGA Charters, the small company that owns the bus which crashed, is based in San Juan. The company had been ordered twice last year, once in May and again in August, to take one of its buses off the road to fix brake and emergency exit problems.

Safety regulators rated the company “satisfactory” in 2014, but inspections since then have found many violations. Before Saturday, the company had reported no crashes in the last two years.

According to the Daily Mail, OGA Charters has violated safety codes for both drivers and vehicles at least 15 times in the last two years. The Motor Carrier Safety Administration found driver records were incomplete, drivers spent too much time on the road, buses operated with discolored or damaged windshields and brakes were not properly maintained. It’s unclear whether any steps were taken to address these problems.

Questions have been raised over whether the bus that was ordered off the road last year is the same one that crashed on Saturday. OGA Charters only owns two vehicles according to their records.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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