Bus carrying elderly evacuees burns; 24 dead

Fire engulfs vehicle carrying elderly from Houston area nursing home

The flight from the danger posed by Hurricane Rita turned deadly early Friday as a bus filled with elderly evacuees from the Houston area burst into flames on traffic-packed Interstate 45, leaving as many as 24 people dead, according to local officials.

"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokesman Don Peritz said. He said he believed 24 people were killed, but that number could change.

Separately, the Dallas County Fire Marshal's office told NBC News that 24 were killed in the tragedy.

The bus was carrying 43 people who had been traveling since Thursday from a nursing home or managed care facility near Houston, Peritz said.

Early indications were that the bus caught fire because of mechanical problems, possibly overheated brakes, then passengers' oxygen tanks started exploding, he said.

The fire reduced the vehicle to a blackened, burned-out shell with large blue tarps covering many seats, surrounded by about 20 police cars and ambulances.

Tina Jones, a nurse from Ennis, was driving behind the bus when she saw it start to smoke and pull to the side of the road.

"I saw the smoke and then there was an explosions," said Jones, who pulled over and helped treat some passengers who suffered cuts and bruises. She said she saw at least six bodies.

"I'll probably go home and have a good cry," she said.

The deadly accident forced authorities to briefly shut the freeway, a main evacuation route from Houston, and created a 17-mile backup. Interstate 45 stretches more than 250 miles from Galveston through Houston to Dallas. The crash site is roughly 17 miles southeast of downtown Dallas.

Gov. Rick Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said traffic on I-45 would be diverted at Ennis, about 30 miles southeast of Dallas.

Authorities also were taking the unusual step of moving the wreckage and continuing the investigation in a remote location so the interstate could reopen for evacuees, Peritz said.

"You have thousands of people who are in their vehicles trying to escape," he said.