At least 10 people are dead after a charter bus accident. The Bus was headed to a California casino when it overturned last night. It happened 60 miles north of Sacramento. Police say emergency responders were having trouble communicating with passengers because many of them are of Laotian descent

The accident occurred shortly after 6 p.m. south of Highway 20 between Colusa and Williams at Lone Star and Abel roads, said CHP Sgt. Pat Landreth. A witness told CHP the bus, traveling north on Lone Star, lost control, flipped into the air, cartwheeled and landed in the ditch.

The driver of the bus, whose name was not released, was injured and transported by ambulance to Woodland Memorial Hospital. CHP Sgt. Brian Donnelly told KCRA that the driver was out of the bus walking after the accident but sustained serious injuries.

The bus was painted with the Greyhound colors and its name painted on the side, but Landreth said, the vehicle was recently sold to Valley Transit Company.

The bus was headed from Sacramento to Colusa Casino Resort. It was carrying 46 passengers.

Colusa County Sheriff-Coroner Scott Marshall confirmed nine people are dead. Thirty-eight are injured.

Landreth said the driver was on medication, but it is too soon to tell if that medication, drugs or alcohol were factors.

The witness, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy, told Landreth the bus swerved to one side of the road, overcorrected to the other side before it flipped and rolled.

The witness told Landreth bodies were “thrown from the bus.”

That off-duty deputy assisted with rescue efforts that will continue into the night.

Tags: accident, Bus, california, chp