Arkansas State Police on Friday released the names of the six passengers killed Nov. 6 when a charter motor coach slammed into an interstate overpass in North Little Rock.
Fortino Cruz-Alvarez, 25; Santos Salvador-Hernandez, 31; Rosa Herrera-Villa, 47; Jose Rangel-Chavez, 32; Martin Santiago-Rubio, 21; and Enrique Cabriales-Manzanarez, 27, were killed in the wreck that occurred on Interstate 40 at 12:55 a.m. Nov. 6, according to state police.
State police said that the 1997 motor coach was traveling west on I-40 near mile marker 154 when it left the north side of the interstate and sideswiped a barrier about 200 feet away from the North Hills Boulevard overpass.
The motor coach then steered left, causing the top of the vehicle to strike the concrete bridge support of the overpass, state police reported.
The driver then regained control and steered the vehicle to a stop on the north shoulder of the interstate.
Of the six killed, three were thrown from the bus, two were still in the bus and another was partially ejected, state police reported.
State police reported seven people were injured in the wreck: Julio Vargas-Morales Cesar, 28; Rudolfo Diego Meza-Cruz, 43; Rudolfo Diego Meza Jr., 20; Norberto Alvarez Antonio, 29; Israel Galindo-Rubio, 32; Francisco Ponciano-Velazquez, 22; and Samuel Cabriales-Manzanarez, 42.
The injured passengers were taken to UAMS Medical Center and Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock and released later Nov. 6, the state police said.
The Mexican government said Nov. 6 that 19 people on the bus were Mexican citizens with work visas, including the dead and injured.
The other three people on the bus, including the driver, were from Florida, according to the state police.
It was raining and the road was wet at the time of the crash.
The motor coach was traveling from Monroe, Mich., to Laredo, Texas.
Metro on 11/17/2015