At least 10 killed when Texas prison bus hit by train

Eight Prisoners & Two Officers Are Dead

Odessa Medical Center, the Hospital where the Victims Are Being Treated Is on Lockdown

PENWELL, Texas (AP) - At least 10 people were killed Wednesday when a bus carrying state prisoners skidded off an icy highway overpass in West Texas, slid down an embankment and collided with a passing train, a county sheriff said.

The overpass on Interstate 20 was slick with ice Wednesday morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway just west of Odessa, according to Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson.

He said five injured people were taken to a hospital. A spokeswoman for Medical Center Hospital in Odessa did not have information on the severity of those injuries.

Justice department spokesman Jason Clark said the bus was carrying 12 prisoners and three corrections officers, and was taking the inmates from a prison in Abilene to another in El Paso.

The Union Pacific train was carrying freight and came to a stop shortly after being struck. Two employees on the train were not injured. The bus left the roadway on an elevated portion and landed and collided with a Union Pacific train. The UP Train was headed eastbound.

The bus was taking prisoners to the Sanchez Unit in El Paso. That unit holds around 700 inmates mainly for relatively minor crimes such as burglary.