LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A charter bus ran off Interstate 40 and hit a bridge abutment on a foggy night in Arkansas, killing six people and injuring many others who were taken from the scene in ambulances.

Arkansas State Police said the crash occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. A heavy storm had recently passed through the area and left light rain and fog in its wake, but it wasn’t immediately known if weather played a role. A news conference was planned for later Friday morning.

Photographs from Little Rock television stations KATV and KTHV showed the bus with nearly all its roof torn off, with most of the damage toward the rear of the vehicle.

Troopers said they received reports about a single-vehicle crash around 1 a.m. Traffic was snarled for hours but all debris and the bus were towed away before daybreak.

Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs confirmed the six fatalities to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper. He did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences said it received three patients at its hospital. Two were treated and released and a third was admitted to the hospital in fair condition, UAMS said.

The American Red Cross tended to eight people on the bus who were uninjured, Regional Communications Director Brigette Williams said. Williams said the company the eight worked for is putting them in an area hotel. Williams did not have any information about the name of the company or the type of work it did.

Williams said the Red Cross is providing mental health services for the survivors of the wreck.

“As you can imagine, people are pretty shaken by this,” she said.

Television station KTHV said on its Twitter feed Friday morning that the passengers were on a business trip.