Megabus bound for Chicago crashes in Indiana

One person was seriously injured when a Megabus traveling from Atlanta to Chicago flipped on I-65 near Indianapolis. 

A double-decker tour bus flipped onto its side early Tuesday on a highway near Indianapolis, seriously injuring one person and injuring more than a dozen others, officials said.

The bus carrying between 50 and 60 people crashed about 4:30 a.m. on Interstate 65 when its driver apparently swerved to avoid a minor crash that had occurred about 10 minutes earlier, state police Sgt. Shawn O'Keefe said.

"The driver apparently didn't see it because of the rain or something and swerved to avoid it," O'Keefe said. "The bus driver swerved and ended up turning the bus over on its side, and it went into the median."

The roadway was wet from overnight storms and some light rain continued in central Indiana about the time of the crash.

Greenwood Fire Department Battalion Chief Chris Harrell told reporters at the scene that one person was taken to a hospital in critical condition, while four people had moderate injuries and 14 had minor injuries.

Indianapolis television stations reported the bus was operated by the Megabus line and was traveling from Atlanta to Chicago. Megabus officials didn't immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.

Harrell said about 35 uninjured passengers were being taken by a city bus to a nearby hospital as a precaution and to regroup.

The northbound bus became entangled in the median's cable barrier in the southern Indianapolis suburb of Greenwood. Both northbound and southbound lanes were closed for a time while crews removed the injured people and worked to clear the wreckage.

In December 2013, the federal government put 52 bus companies out of business, ordering a total of 340 passenger vehicles off the road, as part of a effort to shut down unsafe motorcoach companies. As The Christian Science Monitor reported:

“Bus travel is increasingly popular because it is a convenient, inexpensive option for students, groups and families," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. "But it must also be safe. Through Operation Quick Strike and our regular enforcement efforts, we’re shutting down companies that put passengers at risk and educating the public on safe motorcoach travel."

The motorcoach industry carries about 700 million passengers a year in the United States, roughly the same as domestic airlines do, and transports a wide variety of passengers, ranging from school bands to senior citizens.