This photo provided by KTHV in Little Rock shows a charter bus being towed away after it ran off Interstate 40 and hit a bridge abutment on Friday in North Little Rock, Ark.
A bus ferrying migrant farmworkers from Michigan to Texas ran off a highway and hit an overpass in Arkansas on Friday, ripping off the roof and ejecting passengers onto the interstate. Six people were killed and six injured; the driver survived.
The crash on Interstate 40 in North Little Rock happened at about 1 a.m., in light rain and fog following a heavy storm, but it wasn't immediately known if weather played a role. The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is initially focusing on the possibility of driver fatigue, though investigators may focus on other issues once they're on the scene, spokesman Eric Weiss said.
Roberto Vasquez, 28, of Monroe, Michigan, was behind the wheel when the bus ran off the right side of the highway, struck a wall and then hit the bridge. Of those who died, three were thrown from the bus, one was partially ejected and the other two died inside, said Col. Bill Bryant, the head of the Arkansas State Police.
Vasquez has agreed to routine drug and alcohol tests, but there's no indication he was intoxicated, state police Maj. Mike Foster said.
The driver and two other employees of Vasquez Citrus and Hauling, a provider of foreign farm labour through the federal H-2A visa program, had been transporting 19 workers from Monroe, Michigan, to Laredo, Texas.
A woman who answered the phone Friday at the Lake Placid, Florida-based company hung up as The Associated Press sought more information.
Authorities have not yet released the names or nationalities of those killed in Friday's crash but said the Mexican consulate was helping to contact relatives.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were called in, but only to help local authorities communicate with the Spanish-speaking survivors, according to ICE spokesman Bryan Cox. He said his agency was not pursuing any kind of criminal investigation of the people involved.
The bus had just been sold by Jeff Lawson, who owns Continental Charters in Detroit. Lawson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the buyer "said he needed a second bus to haul people from (Detroit) to Texas... and Florida." The bill of sale and title to the bus, both dated Oct. 31, declared its value to be $8,000.
The American Red Cross was providing mental health services to those who escaped injury. "As you can imagine, people are pretty shaken by this," Regional Communications Director Brigette Williams said.
Highway officials said the span remained structurally sound, even though the impact tore off much of the roof, mostly toward the rear of the bus. Traffic was snarled for hours, but the scene was cleared before daybreak.