Eight people died and dozens were injured in a crash on a major Florida road

Eight people died after a bus carrying dozens of farm workers crashed in Florida on Tuesday morning, according to the State Highway Patrol.

Another eight people are in critical condition and 40 others are in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Florida officials said the bus was carrying about 53 farm workers en route to Cannon Farms, a watermelon farm in Dunnellon.

The accident scene, State Road 40 West, was temporarily closed.

The accident involved a bus and a 2001 Ford Ranger vehicle that “collided sideways,” the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said in a statement.

The bus then drove through a fence and overturned, according to the statement.

Aerial photos showed the bus lying on its side, its front section almost completely removed and its metal frame crumpled.

A spokesman for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office told reporters during a news conference Tuesday that “over 30 ambulances were on scene” to assist the victims.

He said traffic in the area was “a problem” and that accidents continued to occur there despite efforts to curb it.

The traffic is particularly difficult “this time of year” because “the number of migrant workers who are traveling on such buses in our district” is increasing.

Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that some of the victims were Mexican nationals, but gave no further details.

Officials from the Mexican consulate in Orlando were dispatched to assist them.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said the workers were “hardworking individuals” who were in the country legally. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with them being here,” he said.

Cannon Farms said on Facebook that it was closing Tuesday “out of respect for the losses and injuries” in the “tragic accident.”

According to local media, a school bus was used to take some people to the hospital. The Marion County Fire Department confirmed in a statement that no school bus was involved in the collision.

The accident occurred in Dunnellon, about 45 miles (72 km) south of Gainesville, around 06:35 EST (11:35 BST). The cause remains unknown. The Florida Highway Patrol investigated.