A charter bus driver was charged with involuntary manslaughter after a crash on a foggy Virginia highway Tuesday left two passengers dead and dozens injured, including children, officials said.
The bus was carrying 57 people, including the driver, when it ran off the side of an exit ramp on Interstate 95 in Prince George County, south of Richmond, Virginia State Police said.
The crash happened at about 5:22 a.m. Prince George County police said heavy fog had caused several crashes in the area Tuesday morning.
The driver, Yui Man Chow, was not injured in the crash and was being held at Riverside Regional Jail on two counts of manslaughter, Virginia State Police said late Tuesday. Chow, 40, is from Staten Island, New York.
A man and a woman, who have not been identified, were killed in the crash. One person died at the scene, and another died at a nearby hospital, according to Virginia State Police.
All 54 passengers who survived the crash were hospitalized, according to spokespeople from the HCA Virginia Health System, VCU Medical Center Critical Care Center and Southside Regional Medical Center where they were being treated.
Two adult passengers were being treated for life-threatening injuries. Some of the other victims were children as young as toddlers, officials said.
The Tao's Travel Inc. bus began its trip in Orlando, Florida, and was headed for New York City, police said. It had stopped in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, about 100 miles south of the site of the crash, for a driver switch.
Tao's Travel Inc. applied for its permit and license in Flushing, New York, but is based in Middleton, Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The company has eight drivers and four vehicles, none of which have ever been in an accident since Tao's started operating in 2013.
Tao's was reviewed for safety in 2017 and received a satisfactory rating, according to the Department of Transportation. Calls to a number listed for the company went unanswered.
The exit ramp, near Kingwood, was closed for at least five hours after the crash, which was not fully cleared until just before noon, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
