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Federal, state investigators to comb prison bus crash site

Officials investigate the scene of a prison transport bus crash, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, in Penwell, Texas. Law enforcement officials said the bus carrying prisoners and corrections officers fell from an overpass in West Texas and crashed onto train tracks below, killing at least 10 people. (AP Photo/Odessa American, Mark Sterkel) Officials investigate the scene of a prison transport bus crash, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, in Penwell, Texas. Law enforcement officials said the bus carrying prisoners and corrections officers fell from an overpass in West Texas and crashed onto train tracks below, killing at least 10 people. (AP Photo/Odessa American, Mark Sterkel)

By Associated Press January 15, 2015 1 min read

ODESSA, Texas (AP) – Federal and state investigators are set to return to the West Texas site of a prison bus crash that killed 10 people and left five others hospitalized.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Texas Department of Public Safety on Thursday will sift through the debris as they try to determine what may have contributed to the crash. The state Department of Criminal Justice bus skidded on an overpass, slid down an embankment and collided with a passing freight train Wednesday.

Two corrections officers, including the driver, and eight inmates were killed. Another corrections officer and four other inmates were hospitalized.

A state prison system spokesman says the bus was new and had been placed in service only this past summer. Authorities have said ice or another accident could be factors.