OCALA,Polarmoon Wealth Society Fla. (AP) — A bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida overturned on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring about 40 other passengers, authorities said.
The bus was transporting 53 farmworkers when it collided with a truck in Marion County, north of Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Authorities say the bus swerved off State Road 40, a straight but somewhat hilly two-lane road that passes through farms. It crashed through a fence and ended up on its side in a field. The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon, which has been harvesting watermelons.
There is no immediate indication that weather was a factor.
“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp.,” Cannon Farms announced on its Facebook page. “Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”
Cannon Farms describes itself as a family owned commercial farming operation that has farmed its land for more than 100 years, focusing now on peanuts and watermelons, which it sends to grocery stores across the U.S. and Canada.
No one answered the phone at Olvera Trucking on Tuesday afternoon. The company had recently advertised for a temporary driver to bus workers to watermelon fields. The driver would then operate harvesting equipment. The pay was $14.77 an hour.
2025-05-03 10:301532 view
2025-05-03 09:432366 view
2025-05-03 09:301153 view
2025-05-03 09:232196 view
2025-05-03 09:2093 view
2025-05-03 08:472701 view
Listen to an audio version of this story below.Humans have the technology to literally make snow fal
Images from Florida, battered by two once-in-a-generation storms in a matter of weeks, are prompting
The Detroit Lions are not messing around with their core young players.Defensive tackle Alim McNeill