The Florida Highway Patrol discuss deadly bus crash in Marion County

you one more I will I will mic check ABC 123 everybody good okay good morning I'm Lieutenant Pat reardan that's pat p I'm spelling last name rean r i o r d n I'm the public affairs officer for Troop B of the Florida h control and I'm joined this morning by Maran County Sheriff Billy Woods uh really briefly uh I can tell you uh what we know at this point uh when I conclude uh I'm going to let the sheriff make any comments he wants to make but I'm not going to be taking questions beyond what I'm going to tell you at this point because I'm going to tell you everything I know at this point which is at approximately 6:35 a.m. this morning we had a 2010 International uh retired School Bus uh that was traveling west on State Road 40 here in Maran County on the outskirts of dellan uh that vehicle is traveling west we had a 2001 Ford pickup uh a Ranger model that was traveling East that vehicle for unknown reasons traveled uh toward the center line and the vehicles had a collision of a side swipe type manner uh post Collision the school bus traveled off the roadway onto the grass shoulder where it went through a fence uh struck AE three and overturn at this point we have uh eight confirmed fatalities we've had approximately 40 people transported local area hospitals uh some of those are also in very serious condition so there's high probability this may be Beyond uh eight fatalities uh and the driver of the Ford pickup was also transported to the hospital with serious injuries at this point we are conducting a massive traffic homicide investigation we have a uh full team and then some here on the scene and our traffic homicide investigation uh team is some of the best at what they do this will be a very long and lengthy and thorough investigation we do not get in a hurry to conclude what happened until we have all the facts and with that uh um I can tell you that it's going to be probably 6 months at least before we conclude factually what transpired here today but that's what I know at this point uh we will have this road closed until our investigators can uh do everything they need to do on the scene as far as mapping measurements uh phography whatever uh is in included in their on scene investigation we've also been joined by uh our commercial Motor Vehicle bureau they're going to be doing some of the uh leg work and the inspections on the bus that was involved what I can tell you that there was approximately 50 people on this bus my understanding they were Farm Workers and they were in route to a farm in the area uh the status of those uh folks I do not have all that information that's as much as I know at this point uh um and I will say that in a scene like this we also uh Depend and we value the relationships and the friendships and the working relationship that we have with our counterparts in law enforcement and the fire department without these folks uh we couldn't do what we're uh statutorily mandated to do to the best of our uh abilities so with that I will turn it over to Sheriff from Woods for GRE comments and again we'll have more information as it becomes available um and that's all I have at this point Thank you thank you lieutenant obviously we're here because of a tragedy we got eight dead people um now as you've heard the lieutenant already tell you they're doing their investigation and I'm here to assure you they are the best in this United States the Florida Highway Patrol they do an outstanding job in their investigations and they will find out the cause as long as the evidence the physical evidence and everything points to it now obviously there's challenges right now for all of us uh language barrier on on some of the occasions but we have Personnel they have Personnel I'm providing some of my uh support staff that's bilingual to help them assist them in this process uh as well and for everybody that's watching on the cameras out here right now this is what you need to know is when what he just mentioned is when we come together together because of this tragedy of individuals here in my county that we worked together you know there were 30 plus ambulances on scene to get these people the help they need now Chief Jamie B of the Maring County fire rescue his team does a fabulous job they were here he had probably I believe it was around 40 different apparatuses out here on scene to to find the survivors get them the help of which they need and obviously my team's here as well too and we will figure out what it is now we all know the growth in which we're facing because here's what I'm going to hear off of the Camas okay is I'm going to hear about the growth that's happening here in the state here in Maran County the amount of traffic traffic is a problem we are always out here we're constantly with FHP doing everything we can to monitor traffic and hopefully curve and prevent stuff like this but unfortunately it does and it's going to occur but but we are here to help them every single day uh all I got for the moment anybody want to ask a question the workers were migrant workers who head dep you say anything about that yes I will I get this question all the time about the individuals coming into the county this is a very large County for your viewers that don't know this we're the fifth largest county in this state we are very big agricultur County so this time of year we always have migrant workers that are in our County that are on buses just like this because I've already gotten the phone calls I already got the messages my pios about it being out there being a school bus it has nothing to do with the school districts it's not a bus for it is a bus with migrant workers it's everything that we know now everything that we're beginning to see is exactly what it was migrant workers here and that's we're here to help yes ma'am the other um question was whether or not they were documented or undocumented there's been some confusion these legal workers I don't want to give you misinformation everything that I have been told at this point they all have what they need to be here there's no reason for me to be involved with these individuals they're hardworking individuals and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them being here do we know if the the pick truck is trying to pass the bus or pass another vehicle we don't know that right now he ain't got anything yes ma'am obviously it's raining right now was a little earlier so are you looking into weather or is it believed whether or not that was a factor in this that's always a factor because of the one the time of the morning you know uh people claim that sun was in their eyes just because clear rain it's always a factor and look I I have a little heart for FHP because that was my field when I work at Okala Police Department I worked traffic homicides that was part of my job and I understand so everything that you're asking weather yes it plays a factor we have to look into it we have to know if the roads were wet what other circumstances out here was there something else that caused the Press we don't know right now yes sir back what the company that the migrant workers work for I don't have that right now yes sir Sheriff are you able to say um whether you believe that you'll be able to speak with the driver of either vehicle to determine based on their view of what happened what happened but drivers are always interview now I don't know where FHP is in that at that stage um there's there's a process okay obviously the main process right now is is getting initial interviews and then part of the process is collecting all this evidence okay and we do have deceased individuals here so we got to one have respect for the deceased let's make that perfectly clear all right and also to ensure that we collect all evidence that helps us show what caused the crash but is the driver is the driver driver of either vehicle incapacitated or seriously injured that I do not I don't have obviously still being work but we do we have an age range of maybe the people that were on the bus headed I do not no were there seat belts on the bus I do not know we know if there were any outside Witnesses besides bus don't know it's all right sh can you say a word for the families of these victims who are owly getting horrendous news you know my heart goes out to me all right I I've worked many fatalities in my career and and it this is the death that you do not expect from your family members everybody that standing right here and your viewers out here this is the death that is a shock to you and it's going to be hard on them and rightfully so because they just lost a love them my heart pleads for them my heart goes out to them I pray that the good Lord will give them whatever peace that he can to make them through this and hopefully and I'm confident we will have answers for the family to be able to get them closure of why we have this gr have they all been notified I do not know all right one final question reate how much of the road is locked 140th Toth yep 140th to what 18 180th watermelon Farm uh I don't that been reported I I can't confirm a I don't know what that farm has in crops right now you no ma' one was the the bus was going west the pickup was coming east one lane on each side yes and it's no passing allowed yet don't know the exact where the exact point ofion go but let me step back in here for a minute speak CH one the sheriff brought up and he spoke about I will add that although we have what we're going on right here it's a very indepth uh process uh and it's been brought up our one of our priorities as well as here on the scene is to make what we call next to Kin notification that sometimes is a uh difficult process when uh folks live out of uh the area but we're going to do the best ability that we can to make next K notification as quickly as possible again uh I wish I could take more questions but at this point that's all I know uh this will conclude our press conference and we will put out more information as soon as we have more information to provide you

Channel: ABC Action News

Views: 22,765

Keywords: bus crash marion county, deadly bus crash, fhp, florida highway patrol, marion county, marion county bus crash

Id: 0lRXdcGbesM

Length: 11min 40sec (700 seconds)

Published: Tue May 14 2024