Officials are still investigating why a train crashed into a charter bus in downtown Biloxi, killing four people and injuring 35 others.
The charter bus from Austin, Texas, had about 50 people on board. It was traveling from the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis to Biloxi’s Boomtown Casino Tuesday afternoon, when it appears to have gotten stuck on the railroad crossing at Main Street in downtown Biloxi. City spokesman Vincent Creel says there have been issues at this intersection in the past, though it has signage warning of a steep grade and crossing lights and gates. He says why the bus got stuck will be the focus of a federal and local investigation.
“Obviously NTSB is going to be here, federal investigators, as well as our local investigators, as well as from CSX will no doubt be looking at this. But, I do not know why it was lodged on the tracks.”
Emergency responders from around the area were called to the scene Tuesday. Biloxi Fire Chief Joe Boney .
“We had departments from all over the coast to help us. We quickly got the victims removed. We have 35 victims transported to the hospital, either by ambulance or helicopter.”
Officials said it’s not clear yet if the bus had some kind of mechanical trouble, but this intersection has had issues in the past. According to the federal railroad administration, there have been 16 accidents or incidents at this crossing since 1976, two of them fatal.
