Survivor of New Mexico bus crash gave birth to twins hours later

[September 01, 2018]  (Reuters) - A pregnant survivor of the collision between a passenger bus and semi-trailer truck on a New Mexico interstate that killed eight people, gave birth to twins just hours after the crash, hospital officials said on Friday.

The woman, who was not identified by name, was in stable condition after giving birth at a Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services clinic, said Addie Patel, the hospital's chief quality officer.

The two newborn babies were in neo-natal intensive care at University of New Mexico Hospital (UNMH) in Albuquerque, Sonlee West, a surgeon there and director of the hospital's trauma unit, told reporters at a news conference. It was not immediately known if the infants were born prematurely.

Eight people were killed when a Greyhound passenger bus collided head-on with a semi-trailer truck blew a tire on Interstate 40 in New Mexico and jumped a highway median strip, colliding with a Greyhound bus in the town of Thoreau, about 100 miles (161 km) west of Albuquerque.

Photos showed a truck on its side with the trailer's cargo scattered across the highway and the Greyhound bus upright, but with its front end obliterated.

Most of the 49 passengers on the Phoenix, Arizona-bound bus were injured in the wreck and taken to local hospital.

Their injuries ranged from spine and pelvic fractures to broken legs, West said.

"Several of them will have a long road of recovery ahead,” she said.

Three of the six victims taken to UNMH were in critical condition, but the condition of the rest had not been released, said spokeswoman Cindy Foster.

(Reporting Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; editing by Dan Whitcomb and G Crosse)

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