BYHALIA, Mississippi (AP) — The Latest on the winter storm hitting parts of the South (all times local):
5 p.m.
At least three of the 44 people injured in a tour bus crash in northern Mississippi near Memphis, Tennessee, are in serious condition at area hospitals.
Spokeswoman Ayoka Pond says 19 passengers were transported from the crash site near Byhalia to Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto in Southaven, Mississippi, and three there are in serious condition. She says seven other patients were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville in that Tennessee suburb of Memphis.
Another 18 passengers were taken to Methodist Hospital Olive Branch in that Mississippi city says spokeswoman Mary Alice Taylor. The hospital can’t immediately provide conditions for any of the injured.
Authorities say two people died in the crash, which a Mississippi Highway Patrol official called weather-related. It came as authorities reported light snow and sleet had slickened roadways in parts of the South targeted by pre-winter storm.
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4:30 p.m.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway says the federal agency hasn’t determined yet whether it will investigate the crash of a tour bus in northern Mississippi that left two dead and dozens of others injured.
Holloway said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that the board typically investigates crashes where it can make recommendations for systemic safety improvements, but doesn’t investigate every crash.
Duane DeBruyne, of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, says his agency doesn’t investigate crashes but will “assist in way we possibly can” with any local, state or NTSB inquiry.
A Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman says two people are dead and 44 others have been injured aboard a tour bus that overturned on an icy highway in the northern part of the state near Memphis.
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4 p.m.
A Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman says two people are dead and 44 others have been injured aboard a tour bus that overturned on an icy highway in the northern part of the state near Memphis.
Sgt. Joey Miller with Troop E of the Mississippi Highway Patrol says in a statement that the bus was carrying 46 people in all and that the crash was “weather-related.” He did not elaborate in the statement emailed to The Associated Press but said the injured were taken to several hospitals suffering a wide variety of injuries.
The crash came as a pre-winter storm dropped sleet and light snow on parts of the South.
The statement says the bus was southbound on Interstate 269 in Mississippi’s Desoto County — headed from Huntsville, Alabama, to Tunica, Mississippi — when it crashed at 12:35 p.m.
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3:45 p.m.
A tow truck has been hooked up to the tour bus that overturned on an icy route southeast of Memphis in a pre-winter storm.
Authorities say two people died and several others were hurt, some critically, when the bus overturned shortly after midday Wednesday in northern Mississippi. The region is southeast of Memphis, Tennessee.
An Associated Press reporter says the red tour bus with white and gray stripes has most of its windows missing and that an odor of gasoline still hung on the air hours after Wednesday’s crash. The bus had suffered damage including large scratches on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
Workers also are clearing the highway of debris and some of the crashed-out windows could be seen resting on the median.
Traffic headed west on Interstate 269 near the crash site in northern Mississippi remained closed for hours after the crash though eastbound traffic had resumed by Wednesday afternoon. At least eight police vehicles remained on the scene.
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3:20 p.m.
A coroner says two people have died and several others are injured, some critically, after a tour bus overturned on an icy highway ramp in northern Mississippi.
DeSoto County sheriff’s deputy Alex Coker said the tour bus carrying about 50 people overturned just after midday Wednesday south of Memphis, Tennessee. The crash came as a winter storm has been raking parts of the South.
The county coroner, Josh Pounders, says two people are confirmed dead in the crash where Interstate 269 meets with Interstate 22. He says that the injured have been taken to area hospitals, some in critical condition.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation reports that Interstate 269 in closed in both directions at the interchange.
The road agency reports icing on roads and bridges in 10 north Mississippi counties from a winter storm raking parts of the South.
