1 dead, more than 20 injured in prison bus wreck in central Texas

One person was killed and more than 20 hospitalized Friday when a Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus collided with a pickup on Texas 36 near the Comanche County town of Gustine.

Prisons spokesman Robert Hurst said the collision occurred shortly before 8 a.m. as the bus carried 31 Abilene-area prisoners and two corrections officers to a Huntsville prison.

The driver of the pickup was killed in the accident.

Twenty-one of the inmates were being transported hospitals in Brownwood, Comanche, Fort Worth, Hamilton and Temple by helicopter or ground ambulance.

The remaining inmates and corrections officers were taken to a prison infirmary in Gatesville.

Hurst said a preliminary assessment of injuries indicated none was life-threatening.