3 Dead and 14 Injured in Illinois Crash Involving Greyhound Bus and Tractor-Trailers, Police Say

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.

State police 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.

Television footage of the scene shows the badly damaged right front portion of the bus wedged onto the rear of a tractor-tractor. The roof of the bus is crumpled. A second tractor-trailer appears to have made contact with the right rear of the bus while a third tractor-trailer appears to have crashed into the rear of that second semi.

Greyhound spokesperson Mike Ogulnick told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in an email the bus was traveling from Indianapolis to St. Louis, where it was scheduled to arrive at about 2:20 a.m. It was carrying about 30 people, including the driver, he said.

Police closed westbound traffic on I-70 to investigate the crash. All lanes of I-70 and the exit ramp had reopened on Wednesday afternoon, after the ramp and all but one lane of the interstate were closed earlier in the day.

Top photo: A worker helps clear the wreckage of a Greyhound bus that collided with tractor-trailers on the exit ramp to a rest area on westbound Interstate 70 in Highland, Ill., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)