Deadly Bus Accident in Georgia

ELIJAY, Ga. (WDEF)- Highway 515 is flowing again, thanks to the first responders who spent hours cleaning up the deadly crash that shut down traffic in both lanes.

Highway 515 in Ellijay Georgia is back up and running again, after being shut down for hours in both directions.

Traffic was redirected, allowing officials to clean up the scene of a crash that killed one, and injured 43 others.

“The accident’s being investigated by our specialized collision reconstruction team, and that’s kinda where we’re at. We’re in the early stages of investigation.”

According to officials, a tractor trailer came into contact with a Great Time Getaways tour bus, after the truck tried to turn onto the highway from Whitestone road.

“The tractor trailer was crossing over that paved center section, as he was attempting to go southbound. So that’s when the impact occurred.”

48 passengers were on the bus, but officials say it was the driver of the bus that didn’t survive.

“There’s a lot of collisions happening here. We had a lady about a year ago, she died, she got hit by an 18-wheeler pulling out of the road back there. It hit her car, t-boned her and killed her.”

Dalton Holcombe and his friends say they’ve lived just down the street from that intersection their entire lives.

They say they’ve seen more than a few deadly crashes there, and now that Holcombe can drive, he knows how important it is to be careful.

“I take it really cautious, I pull up as far as I can without getting in the road, and not just take off, get to the median. I mean, just watch what you’re doing.”

“I think we, in today’s society, get busy thinking about where we’re going or where we’ve come from, and tend to tend to not focus as much as we should on driving.”

The names of those involved in the accident have not been released at this time and officials say those who were hurt only suffered minor injuries.