3 dead in bus crash at Charles County nursing home – NBC4 Washington

Three passengers on a nursing home bus died early Friday in LaPlata, Maryland, when the bus collided head-on with a dump truck, authorities said.

Two passengers and the driver of a “senior living transportation bus” were killed, Maryland State Police said in a statement.

Police said the driver was Charlie Parker of Mechanicsville. He was 84 years old. The passengers were Cassandra Brown, 61, and Darlene Burrell, 64, both of Waldorf.

The Chopper4 video shows the destroyed wreckage of the white bus with catastrophic damage to the front on the driver's side.

The accident involving a Sagepoint Senior Living Services bus occurred shortly before 8 a.m. at the intersection of Port Tobacco Road and Bowie Road in a rural part of the county.

According to initial investigations, the bus was traveling west on Port Tobacco Road when the driver lost control “for unknown reasons” and collided head-on with a dump truck traveling east.

All three people were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. The driver of the dump truck was not injured.

Investigators do not believe that either driver was impaired, police said.

News4 sends breaking news alerts via email. Sign up here to receive breaking news alerts in your inbox.

An investigation by the Maryland State Police Crash Team is underway. All lanes of Port Tobacco Road were closed and later reopened.

Lt. Everett West of the Maryland State Police called the accident a tragedy that greatly disturbed first responders.

“I think I can speak for all first responders; the mood here today is pretty depressed,” he said.

Sagepoint did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A video from News4 shows the horribly wrecked bus being towed away.

Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.