DPS: TDCJ Bus Lost Control on Ice

A Texas Department of Criminal Justice transport bus involved in a fatal crash that claimed 10 lives Wednesday morning initially lost control due to precipitation and collecting ice on a bridge, Sergeant Elizabeth Barney of the Texas Department of Public Safety said this afternoon.

The bus, en-route from the Middleton Unit in Abilene to the Sanchez Unit in El Paso, was heading down Interstate 20 at 7:30 this morning when it hit a patch of ice near mile marker 103 and careened off the bridge. The bus was then hit by an approaching cargo train as it lay on the tracks below. No employees of the railroad were injured in the crash. 

Barney explained that employees of the TDCJ and and the TxDPS are working to contact next of kin, and will release the names of the victims when the time is appropriate. Along with the eight inmates and two correctional officers killed in the crash, an additional four inmates and one officer were injured and transported to a hospital in Odessa. The crash site lies near Penwell, just west of Odessa.

Barney could not release the reason for the transport, but relayed that all offenders were minimal security.

The driver of the bus was wearing a seatbelt and died in the crash, however there are no other seatbelts on a transport bus. Seatbelts are not legally required on buses, Barney said.

In total, there were 12 inmates and three guards on the bus; all were either killed or injured.