Chain-reaction bus crash on Virginia highway kills 5 people

Five people were killed and more than 40 others injured, three critically, after a tour bus plowed into a sport utility vehicle on Friday, triggering a fiery, chain-reaction crash on a US highway in Northern Virginia.

A preliminary investigation showed that the bus driver failed to reduce speed as his motor coach was nearing slower-moving traffic in a construction zone along Interstate 95, a major north-south highway corridor in the region, police said.

As a result, the bus slammed into a Chevrolet Suburban, which was then forced into an Acura SUV and other vehicles, while the bus struck additional vehicles as well. The Acura caught fire, according to a state police press release.

The wreck occurred at about 2:35 am EDT (10:35 am GST) in the southbound lanes of I-95 in Stafford County, roughly 45 miles (72.4 km) southwest of Washington, D.C.

The bus, operated by North Carolina-based motor coach charter company E&P Travel, was carrying about 34 occupants, including the driver, from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Of the five fatalities, four were from the burning Acura - a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all of them from Greenfield, Massachusetts.

The fifth person killed, a 25-year-old woman from Worcester, Massachusetts, was in the Chevy Suburban hit by the bus, according to police.

About 44 other people injured in the crash, including the bus driver, were taken to area hospitals for treatment, three of them listed in critical condition, police said.

State police spokesperson Matthew Demlein said charges were pending against the bus driver in connection with the crash, but he declined to elaborate.