At least seven people were killed when a large tractor-trailer blew a tire, jumped a highway median into oncoming highway traffic and slammed into a Greyhound passenger bus, New Mexico State Police said.
Images of Thursday's scene on US media show vast area of debris and a bus missing its front section up to the front tires.
The truck "suffered a tire blowout, causing the semi to cross the median into opposing West-bound traffic" and collide with the bus carrying 48 passengers, New Mexico police said in a statement.
The truck driver however survived the crash with "non-life-threatening injuries."
The accident, near the New Mexico town of Thoreau, took place around noon (1800 GMT) and closed a portion of Interstate 40, a major East-West highway, local officials said.
The bus was heading from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Phoenix, Arizona, local media reported.
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