In this aerial photo, emergency workers respond to a crash involving a church bus and a tractor-trailer near Dandridge, Tenn., on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013. Authorities say a tire on the bus blew out and the bus hit the tractor-trailer and a sport utility vehicle, killing eight people.DANDRIDGE, Tenn. – A bus taking a church group home to North Carolina blew a tire, veered across a highway median and crashed into a sport utility vehicle and tractor-trailer Wednesday in a fiery wreck that killed eight people, authorities said.
Fourteen other people were hurt in the accident in northeastern Tennessee, including two who were in critical condition. The bus was carrying members of the Front Street Baptist Church in Statesville, N.C., which is about 140 miles east of the crash site.
The group of seniors, known as Young at Heart, had been to the 17th annual Fall Jubilee in Gatlinburg, Tenn., an event featuring gospel singers and speakers. Its website described the gathering as “three days of singing, laughing and preaching” for “mature and senior believers.”
Inside the Statesville church, people were crying and hugging each other. One woman whispered “It’s going to be all right” while hugging another woman. A service was scheduled for Wednesday night.
George Stadfeld, who has been a member of the church for eight years, said he knew everyone on the bus.