10 killed, 5 injured when prison bus hits train in western Texas

Ten people were killed and five others injured on Wednesday after a bus carrying state prisoners fell off an icy highway overpass in the western part of U.S. state of Texas and collided with a train, local media reported.

The bus, which was carrying 12 prisoners and three corrections officers, was travelling from a unit in the city of Abilene to the city of El Paso at around 7:30 a.m. local time Wednesday morning when the accident happened, according to local TV station ABC13.

The overpass on Interstate 20 was slick with ice Wednesday morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway just west of Odessa, a city in western Texas. The white bus slid down an embankment and collided with a passing train, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement.

The department confirmed that eight prisoners and two corrections officers died in the crash and five others -- four prisoners and one corrections officer -- have been taken to a local hospital for treatment, but their conditions are not clear.

Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said in the statement that "It's with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of those killed and injured this morning in a tragic accident."

The cause of the accident is now under investigation. Endite