There were no fatalities reported, and the injuries ranged from minor to serious, the Virginia State Police said.
The crash took place about 4:35 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 64 near the Blue Ridge Parkway and west of Afton Mountain, about 25 miles west of Charlottesville, authorities said.
James Proffitt, the driver of the tractor-trailer, lost control, and it overturned across the roadway, the police said. Andrew L. Burruss, who was driving a Silver Lining Tours bus in the same direction, was unable to avoid the tractor-trailer, and the bus struck it and split in half. The bus veered off the side of the highway and came to rest against a guardrail.
Alexander Burruss, the owner of the bus company, and the brother of the driver, said the passengers had bruises and broken bones. “They are thankful to be alive and back on the good earth,” he said.
The bus was coming back from the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia, headed to Charlottesville when the crash occurred, he said.
The tractor-trailer had been carrying U.S. mail, the police said.
Four people were taken to the Augusta Health Medical Center in Fisherville, Virginia, and 15 others, including Proffitt, 44, and Burruss, 62, were taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, officials said.
Of the 20 evaluated at the medical center, 16 patients were discharged from the emergency department, and four were admitted and were in fair condition, a spokeswoman said.
The initial crash caused seven other minor crashes, said the police, who described the road conditions at the time of the crash as slick and foggy.
This article originally appeared in
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