
A West Chicago man was one of three people killed Sunday when a passenger bus smashed into a pickup truck in eastern Arkansas.
Raul Lopez, 58, was one of an estimated 47 people on a Tornado Bus Line bus traveling from Chicago to Dallas along Interstate 40 when it crashed at about 10 p.m., according to Kentucky State Police.
More than 40 people were injured in the crash when the westbound bus crossed the median and collided with an eastbound pickup, police said. An eastbound tractor-trailer rig then collided with bus.
The pickup driver, Danny Okurily, 30, of Hot Springs, Ark., died at the scene. Bus passenger Ana Contreras, 41, of Woodlands, Texas, was also killed. The bus driver, Felix Tapia, 28, of Brownsville, Texas, and the tractor-trailer driver, David Rice, 45, of Mars Hill, N.C., both sustained minor injuries.
The crash blocked eastbound and westbound lanes of traffic as scores of emergency personnel responded to the scene. Dozens of injured passengers were transported to hospitals in Forrest City, Ark.; West Memphis, Ark.; and Memphis, Tenn.
A manifest originally listed 44 people as passengers. Police later revised the total number of people on board the bus to 47, including the driver and two children not on the original list.
Arkansas State Police said the accident is under investigation as the department continues interviewing dozens of witnesses and the drivers of the vehicles.


