All three children on a school bus were killed when it veered into oncoming traffic and collided with a tractor-trailer in western Illinois on Monday morning, authorities said.
The bus and truck drivers also died in the crash in the small city of Rushville, Illinois State Police said.
The dead were identified as Rushville residents Andrew Miller, 3; Noah Driscoll, 3; Maria Miller, 5; and Angela Spiker, 57; and Browning, Illinois, resident David Coufal, 72. Browning is about 14 miles east of Rushville.
The names, attributed to the Schuyler County Coroner's Office, were released by state police in a statement late Monday.
The vehicles were engulfed in flames, and there were no survivors, Capt. Jody Huffman said at an afternoon news conference.
"No one should have to go through this horrible situation," Huffman said.
It's not clear why the bus veered into oncoming traffic about 11:30 a.m. on Route 24, she said. State police took over the investigation, and the National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to Rushville to assist.
Sheriff Bill Redshaw said the loss was quickly felt in the area of the crash, Schuyler County, which has a population of less than 7,000 and occupies 441 square miles on the west side of the state.
"It’s a close-knit family," he said, describing his community. "To have loss of life like this, it’s devastating."
The bus was headed east, and the truck, transporting sand, was going west when the collision happened, according to Huffman and a state police statement.
U.S. Route 24, a major thoroughfare for the county that ultimately connects it to Kansas City, Missouri, was the subject of an "extended closure" as authorities continued to investigate what caused the bus to move into oncoming traffic, the agency said.
The weather was fair with clear skies at the time of the crash, according to National Weather Service data.
