(Reuters) - U.S. investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were dispatched to Texas on Sunday to investigate a charter bus crash that killed eight people and injured 44 on Saturday, the NTSB said.
Officials reported the driver lost control and the bus rolled over on a Texas highway but offered no further explanation pending the investigation.
The victims included seven women and one man, ages 50 to 83, said Emanuel Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Webb County Medical Examiner's Office. Officials said at a news conference on Sunday that a ninth person died in the crash, but that was incorrect, Rodriguez said.
The bus was taking 51 passengers to the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel near the Mexican border when the accident occurred on northbound U.S. Route 83, about 45 miles (72 km) north of Laredo, officials said.
Seven passengers were confirmed dead at the scene of the crash and another died in the hospital. Forty-four others were transported to area hospitals, including the driver, said Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Conrad Hein said.
The NTSB said it had sent a "go team" to begin the investigation at the accident scene. The team normally returns to Washington to continue its work and may take months to produce a draft of the accident report.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta and Kevin Murphy; editing by Andrew Roche and Mary Milliken)