TALLULAH, La. — As families of 15 bus crash victims began to arrive in Tallulah, La., Oct. 13–14, Southern Baptists in the area looked for ways to minister to those affected.
The bus, which was carrying senior adults on a trip sponsored by First Baptist Church of Eldorado, Texas, crashed head-first into the back of an 18-wheeler parked on the side of Interstate 20 Oct. 13, killing eight people and injuring another seven. The driver, who survived, had fallen asleep, police told The News-Star newspaper in Monroe, La.
The group, from the West Texas town of 2,000, was on a two-plus week tour of historic sites, such as the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., and the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa. The crash occurred around 11 a.m. local time, and because Eldorado is more than 600 miles away, it took victims’ families half a day to arrive.
Eldorado Mayor John Nikolauk said the tragedy “kind of tears the guts out of this town,” the Star-Telegram reported. “These people are the heart, the backbone, the strength of this community. I don’t know how we’re going to survive it, but we’re going to buck up and deal with it like West Texans do. We don’t have any other choice.”
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