At least six people are dead after a Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) bus collided with a school bus early Tuesday morning.
Baltimore police said at least six people were killed in the crash.
The chief media relations officer for Baltimore police, T.J. Smith, said on social media that some other people appeared to have suffered significant injuries.
“We are in the process of gathering information on the bus crash. We will advise once we have more. Understand this is a fluid situation,” Smith said on Twitter.
Aerial footage from the scene shows the front end of the school bus nearly flattened after it smashed into the side of the MTA bus.
The driver’s side of the MTA bus appeared to be ripped off with debris littering the city street.
Police said there were no children on the school bus at the time of the crash.
Speaking at a press conference, Smith said the bus was travelling eastbound when it struck a car before continuing eastbound and striking a pillar outside of a cemetery. The bus then continued further east and slammed into the MTA bus in the westbound lane.
“It literally looks like a bomb exploded in the bus and it is catastrophic damage,” Smith said. “We know that there are five fatalities on the MTA bus and that number can change.”
Investigators have yet to search the MTA bus but officers believe there were about 13 people on the bus and two occupants of the school bus, the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said 10 people suffered injuries ranging from minor to critical.
“It’s a pretty horrific scene,” Smith said, adding the crash investigation will take quite some time.
Police confirmed the school bus was en route to pick up “a young person about four or five blocks away.”
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a statement Tuesday afternoon thanking the first responders and offered condolences to victims and families affected by the crash.
“I offer my sincerest condolences to the victims and families impacted by this morning’s tragic bus crash in southwest Baltimore,” the mayor said. “I am thankful for the expedient response of our emergency staff who are doing all they can to assist those in critical need and render aid where necessary, as well as those who have offered resources and support.”
One of the first people at the scene of the bus crash was Matthew Feldman, a passing motorist, who told WJZ-TV that he and another man pulled up and tried to help people before emergency responders arrived.
Feldman said he and the other man tried to pull glass off a woman pinned by the door of the MTA bus, and could hear people screaming. He said the driver’s side of the MTA bus was a mess of twisted metal with people’s arms and legs sticking out.
–with a file from the Associated Press