MARION COUNTY, Fla. – The site of the bus crash where eight farmworkers died this week is growing bigger. A vigil was held Friday evening to honor the lives of those lost.
“I was shocked ‘cause stuff like this doesn’t really happen around here,” said Jackeline Flores.
Flores says there is a small tight-knit Mexican community that lives here in Dunnellon that still can’t process the tragedy of eight farmworkers killed on their way to work from Gainesville.
She and others are here to help expand this memorial.
“I am really sorry about what happened. They were here, they call it the American dream. They were here to work and make their money for their family and go back home,” she said.
Tragedy struck just before 7 a.m. on Tuesday when Marion County sheriffs and fire department, rushed to a crash on State Road 40, just west of Ocala near Dunnellon.
Florida Highway Patrol says there were 53 farmworkers on the bus when an oncoming pickup truck sideswiped them. They were on their way to work at Cannon Farms, hired to harvest watermelons.
Bryan Howard, 41, was driving the pickup truck that sideswiped the bus causing it to skid off the road and turn over. He’s charged with eight counts of DUI manslaughter.
Investigators say Howard was smoking marijuana oil and taking prescription pills the night before.
Some survivors are still at HCA Ocala Florida Hospital. One remains in critical condition.
Roberto Marquez is the artist who created the murals at the crash site to honor the victims.
“My goal is that the families know that we care about them and we are gonna do everything possible to make them feel the best way possible,” Marquez said.
The Mexican Consulate is handling details for victims and their families needing assistance.
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