DINWIDDIE, Va. (AP) - The star herself was not on board, but one of Miley Cyrus' tour buses overturned on a highway in Virginia this morning.
State police say one person was killed and another was taken to a local hospital with what are described as minor injuries after the bus struck an embankment and rolled over. They say neither speed nor weather are considered to have been factors in the accident.
The bus was one of four traveling together from Long Island, N.Y., where the 16-year-old singer performed last night. The group was headed for Greensboro, N.C., for another show Sunday.
Members of the tour, some still wearing pajamas, began transferring backpacks and laptops from the wrecked bus into two others parked outside a restaurant about 40 miles south of Richmond. They all declined to speak to reporters.
Cyrus is the star of Disney's "Hannah Montana" sitcom.
Below is the release from the Virginia State Police:
DINWIDDIE, Va. – Virginia State Police are investigating a tour bus crash that occurred Friday morning (Nov. 20, 2009) in Dinwiddie County, Va., which is just south of the city of Petersburg. At 8:20 a.m., Virginia State Police Trooper B.D. Coles was called to the scene in the southbound lanes of Interstate 85 at the 55 mile marker.
The bus was traveling in the southbound lanes of I-85 when it ran off the left side of the road and overturned onto its right side. The nine passengers on the bus were able to exit the vehicle through the front windshield.
The driver of the bus, William G. Douglas, 53, of Austin, Texas, was trapped inside the bus and died at the scene.
Marty Zilio, 48, of Canada, was injured in the crash. Zilio was transported by ambulance to Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg for treatment of minor injuries.
The bus belongs to Roberts Brothers Coach Co. and was hired for the Miley Cyrus tour. Those riding on the bus are part of her production crew. It was one of four buses traveling south on I-85 to Greensboro, N.C. Cyrus was not on the bus, nor traveling with the group at the time of the crash.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation at this time.
