MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A man is facing DUI manslaughter charges after a bus crashed and rolled over in Central Florida on Tuesday morning, killing eight people and injuring dozens of others, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
The crash happened around 6:35 a.m. on State Road 40, leaving eight people dead and critically injuring eight others, authorities said. Thirty other people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the sheriff's office.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said the crash was between a 2010 International Bus transporting 53 people and a 2001 Ford Ranger truck. Authorities said the vehicles sideswiped each other, and the bus traveled off the road, through a fence before overturning.
The Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Patrick Riordan said it appeared the truck "traveled toward the center line," before the crash.
The people onboard the bus were employees of a farming company, FHP confirmed.
"Identifies of the decreases will be released pending the next of kin notification. Our sympathies and prayers are with the families of the deceased," FLHSMV said in its latest statement on the crash.
At 1:47 p.m., state troopers arrested Bryan Howard, 41, the driver of the truck, on eight counts of DUI manslaughter.
FHP is currently investigating the crash.
