8 migrant workers killed, dozens injured in central Florida crash

1 of 5 | At least eight migrant farm workers were killed and dozens more were hospitalized after the bus their were aboard crashed Tuesday in central Florida. Photo courtesy of Marion County Fire Rescue/Facebook

May 15 (UPI) — At least eight migrant workers were killed and several others were seriously injured Tuesday morning when the bus they were aboard was sideswiped by a pickup truck on a central Florida highway.

Authorities told reporters during a press conference that the bus with 53 people aboard was taking the documented workers to a farm when at about 6:35 a.m. EDT a Ford pickup truck traveled toward the center line on Florida’s Highway 40 in Marion County, causing the two vehicles to collide.

Lt. Pat Riordan, public affairs officer for Florida Highway Patrol, said the vehicles crashed in a “sideswipe-type manner.”

The bus was forced off the road, down the grass shoulder, through a fence and into a tree, which caused it to flip, he said.

Marion County Fire Rescue said in a statement that 34 patients had been hospitalized, with eight in critical condit