PHOTO GALLERY: Megabus crashes into bridge pillar outside St. Louis

August 2, 2012 | 10:32 p.m. CDT

A packed double-decker Megabus blew a tire and slammed into a concrete bridge support pillar on an Illinois interstate Thursday, leaving at least one person dead and more than two dozen others injured, officials said. The Illinois State Police said Aditi R. Avhad died in the crash and has ties to MU.

This photo from video provided by KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis, shows the scene near Litchfield, Ill., where a double-decker Megabus struck a concrete bridge pillar along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois. There was no immediate word of injuries in the Thursday afternoon wreck. | AP Photo/Courtesy KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis

First responders wheel a crash victim to a waiting ambulance at the scene of a charter bus crash on Interstate 55 near Litchfield, Ill., on Thursday. | DAVID SPENCER/The Associated Press

The wreckage of a Megabus is removed from the bridge support pillar that it slammed into after blowing a tire, on Thursday in Litchfield, Ill. | TOM GANNAM/The Associated Press