A charter bus carrying members of a football team struck an overpass bridge on the Highway 74 bypass Saturday afternoon, killing four people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.
It was confirmed by the North Carolina Highway Patrol that 42 people were injured and all were taken to area hospitals. Two people were transported to Carolina Medical Center.
The Highway Patrol said passengers Darice Hicks, 10, Teto Hamilton, 19, and Devonte Gibson, 21, and bus driver Brian Andre Kirkpatrick, 43, died in the crash.
A call received by Richmond County 911 indicated the bus hit the bridge.
State troopers said they believe that around 2:30 p.m. the front tire of the bus blew out, which caused it to slam into a median guardrail and sideswipe the bridge on Highway 74 near Hamlet, North Carolina.
The bus was carrying a football team from Ramah Juco Academy, a program that helps athletes who didn't qualify to play sports after high school get accepted into a college program. Many of the players are students at Clinton College in Rock Hill, North Carolina.
The team was headed to play University of God's Chosen, a nonprofit university in Fayetteville.
Classes are canceled at Clinton College Monday following the deaths of two students.
One witness told WSOC-TV that as many as 25 people stopped to help the victims.
Jennifer Newsome was one driver who pulled over. She jumped on the bus to see if there was anyone she could help.
"It was horrifying. I just can't explain it. It was heartbreaking. I felt like that's what I needed to do, to make sure everybody was off the bus and nobody was hurt," Newsome said.
Investigators reopened the highway around midnight, almost 10 hours after the crash.
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