A bus carrying elderly evacuees burst into flames outside Dallas before dawn this morning, killing as many as 24 people and closing a primary escape route from Hurricane Rita, local authorities said.
"It burst into flames with black smoke coming from the bus, and then we saw the fire," a witness told Houston television station KTRK.
It its believed that the bus had 45 senior citizens on board who had been travelling since yesterday.
"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," said a Dallas County Sheriff's Department spokesman , who declined to give details on who the passengers were except to say that they were from a nursing home in Bellaire, Houston.
Early indications were that the bus caught fire because of mechanical problems. Some of the passengers used oxygen tanks, but it is unknown whether they contributed to the fire.
The bus was reduced to a blackened, burned-out shell with large blue tarps covering many seats, surrounded by police cars and ambulances. Tina Jones 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, a nurse who pulled over and helped treat cuts and bruises. She said she saw at least six bodies. The Sheriff's Department's spokesman said the driver survived.
"It's my understanding he went back on the bus several times to try to evacuate people," he said.