Seven killed in the tour bus accident

A collision between a tour bus and a truck near Yellowstone National Park killed seven people on Thursday and injured eight more.

The police were made aware of the crash at 7:15 p.m. local time (02:15 GMT) when a Chevy pickup and a van collided with 14 tourists on a motorway in the east of Idaho, the state police said.

Both vehicles catch fire. The driver of the truck and six passengers died in the van.

The police are still investigating the matter. The highway on which the crash took place leads into the park, which is now entering the top tourists.

A photo of a passerby shows smoke cloud and flames near the crumpled front of the truck.

The witness, who took up the photo, Roger Merrill, told the US partner of the BBC, CBS News that he was on his way home when he developed the scene.

Both vehicles were on fire, and the spectators tried to take care of the survivors on the side of the highway.

“It is a very dangerous motorway because it leads to the main entrance of Yellowstone National Park,” he said. “It's very busy.”

The highway was closed for seven hours, while emergency teams treated the victims and cleared the crash site, about 16 miles from the entrance of Yellowstone.

The police said that the local forensic doctor's office would publish the names of the dead after family members were notified.

Yellowstone, the oldest national park in the United States, covers almost 3,500 m² in three states, including Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.

It draws an average of four million tourists every year, with the majority of visitors coming between May and September, according to the National Park Service.