HOUSTON – A METRO bus was involved in an accident in which a van caught fire in northeast Houston.
The wreck happened at around noon Thursday at East Crosstimbers and Hirsch.
According to HFD, the bus was traveling east on Crosstimbers when it made a left turn onto Hirsch. As the bus driver made the turn, it collided with a passenger van traveling west on Crosstimbers. The bus ran off the road and into a field, resting about 30 feet from the intersection. A few minutes after the collision, the van caught fire. "It was blazing. It was crazy," said Sean Collier, who watched the van burn from a nearby gas station.
Sky 2 captured dozens of emergency vehicles on the scene, as crews loaded bus passengers onto ambulances. According to HFD, 13 people on board the bus, including the driver, were taken to hospitals without major injuries. "When I saw the van I was hoping and praying my mom was OK because that looked pretty bad," said a woman named Stacey, who said her mom was a passenger on the bus.
She arrived on scene just in time to see her mom being loaded onto a stretcher. "She is in tears right now," Stacey said. "She says she can't move."
According to HFD, the van that went up in flames had two people inside. The driver and passenger somehow managed to get out of the van before it caught on fire. They suffered minor injuries.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. According to Metro, at this point it appears the driver of the bus is at fault.