Multiple people were killed in Biloxi, Mississippi, after a charter bus was struck by a train and pushed more than 300 feet along the tracks, local media reported Tuesday.
The bus was carrying around 50 people, many of whom were believed to be senior citizens, when it was hit by the train around 2:15 p.m. local time. At least four have been pronounced dead and 35 have been hospitalized, including several who had to be airlifted to area hospitals, according to ABC affiliate WLOX. The train crew was not injured.
“It’s a terrible, chaotic scene,” Biloxi Police Chief John Miller told NBC News. “We’re not sure about the bus itself, why it was stopped, if it was having engine problems or what.”
A Biloxi city spokesman said he was unsure where the bus was headed, The Associated Press reported, though charter buses often travel to Biloxi’s casinos. The bus originated in Austin, Texas.
A video posted to Facebook by Victor Williams, a reporter with WLOX, shows rescue officials working at the scene to remove those on the bus through emergency windows.
A spokesman for CSX, the train company involved in the accident, said the crossing where the bus was struck had “flashing lights and crossing gates,” according to MS News Now.