3 kids among dozens injured in deadly New Mexico bus crash

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Three children, including two infants, were among the dozens of passengers seriously injured when the commercial bus they were riding in was hit head-on by a semitrailer on a New Mexico highway, killing eight people, hospital officials said today.

Officials at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque said 10 patients are hospitalized there, including three adults who are in intensive care, one of whom is in critical condition.

Some patients were expected to undergo surgery later today and Saturday. While doctors declined to offer specifics, they said the patients that came in during the hours that followed Thursday's crash on Interstate 40 near the Arizona border had injuries that ranged from head trauma to spine fractures and other broken bones.

"Several of them will have a long road of recovery ahead," said Sonlee West, director of the hospital's trauma unit. "We have been in contact with family members of several of the patients, and several of them have been able to talk to their families."

The crash killed eight people and injured many of the 49 people aboard the Greyhound bus heading to Phoenix from Albuquerque. Several passengers were being treated today at hospitals in the Gallup area, about 30 miles from the crash site.

Authorities said they were working on positively identifying those who were killed through fingerprints and other means.

The semitrailer was headed east on the freeway Thursday afternoon when one of its tires blew, sending the rig carrying produce across the median and into oncoming traffic, where it slammed into the bus, New Mexico State Police said.

Passing motorists described a chaotic scene with passengers on the ground and people screaming.

Eric Huff was heading to the Grand Canyon with his girlfriend when they came across the crash. The truck's trailer was upside down and "shredded to pieces," and the front of the bus was smashed, he said, with many of the seats pressed together.