USA: 3 dead and 14 injured in Illinois crash involving Greyhound bus and tractor-trailers, police say

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HIGHLAND, Ill. (AP) — Three people were killed and 14 others injured, some seriously, early Wednesday when a Greyhound bus crashed into three tractor-trailers parked along a highway exit to a rest area in southern Illinois, state police said.

Illinois State Police said an initial investigation indicates a Greyhound passenger bus was westbound along Interstate 70 in Madison County around 1:55 a.m. when it crashed into the three tractor-trailers, which were parked on the exit ramp to the Silver Lake Rest Area.

“Three fatalities are confirmed and multiple others were taken to a hospital with serious injuries, four by helicopter and at least 10 by ambulance,” state police said in a news release.

The agency said no one in the three trucks was injured in the crash near the city of Highland about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of St. Louis.

State Police spokesperson Melaney Arnold said those killed and injured were all on the Greyhound bus. She was not sure if the bus driver was among those killed or injured or if all of those involved were passengers.

Arnold said additional information was not immediately available on the circumstances of the crash, which closed westbound traffic on I-70.