Immokalee farmworker transportation company impacted by deadly crash that killed eight

Kate Cimini and Austin L. Miller, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
Updated ·5 min read
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The crash that killed eight farmworkers and injured dozens more in Central Florida Tuesday also injured a Southwest Florida business owner.

The bus that crashed and overturned was registered to Immokalee-incorporated Olvera Trucking Corporation, and owned by Jose Olvera.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the bus was carrying 53 people, mainly farmworkers, to Cannon Farms in Ocala. The farm's watermelons are sold in supermarkets across the U.S. and Canada, per its website.

At about 6:35 a.m., while the bus was heading west on SR 40, a brown Ford Ranger pickup truck headed eastbound crossed the dividing line and crashed into the westbound bus, a witness told FHP.

The bus ran onto the south shoulder, struck a board fence and two trees, and then overturned, troopers said.

While eight were reported dead as of 12:30 Tuesday, Florida Highway Patrol officials said more might die, given the severity of injuries suffered in the crash. At least 25 occupants suffered minor injuries.

The driver of the other vehicle involved is hospitalized in serious condition as well, FHP said. He was arrested and charged with eight counts of DUI manslaughter.

“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp,” Cannon Farms wrote on its Facebook page. “Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”

Cannon Farms did not return a request for comment by publication.

The FHP's Specialized Investigations Reconstruction Team will investigate the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is also monitoring the situation and will collaborate with relevant authorities to investigate the accident thoroughly.

Officials on scene said the owner of Olvera Trucking was aboard the vehicle and had to be transported to a hospital after the crash. Olvera Trucking was incorporated in 2010 in Immokalee by Lehigh Acres resident Jose Olvera, according to Florida’s Division of Corporations records. A company representative did not return calls or emails by publication time.

It was not immediately clear if any of the farmworkers also involved in the crash were from Lee or Collier counties.

At least some may have been in the country on an H-2A visa, a short-term visa intended to supplement the number of farmworkers in the U.S.

The News-Press / Naples Daily News reviewed a Department of Labor job order for Cannon Farms, which afforded Cannon 43 H-2A visas for workers to harvest watermelon and maintain the fields six days a week, Monday through Saturday, for $14.77 an hour between May 1 and June 4, 2024.

According to a statement by the League of United Latin American Citizens, the U.S.’s largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization, officials confirmed the workers had the necessary documentation to be employed in Florida.

Local organizations, including Collier County-based farmworkers’ rights group Coalition of Immokalee Workers, were scrambling to figure out the identities of those involved so they could provide support if needed.

Immokalee, an unincorporated area of Collier, is home to roughly 27,000, according to Census Reporter data, many of whom are farmworkers. The per-capita income is just under $18,000 annually, and 23% of residents live below the poverty line, nearly double the state’s poverty rate. Roughly 30% of children under 18 live in poverty, and about a quarter of seniors do as well.

Emergency workers worked on removing the deceased individuals from a bus carrying laborers that overturned Tuesday morning off West State Road 40 in west Marion County About a mile west of SW 140th Avenue. Eight people had died and more than two dozen more were injured, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Officials on scene said the laborers worked for a private company and were being taken to a watermelon farm. There is no name on the side of the bus, and the owner of the private company was aboard the vehicle and had to be transported to a hospital after the crash. There were 53 people aboard the bus, officials said. Eight died, eight more were critically injured and the rest had minor or no injuries, but still were taken to local hospitals for evaluation.[Doug Engle/Ocala Star Banner]2024

“If there’s something we can do, we will, but as of right now we don’t have any information on them, or the names,” said Immokalee-based Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church Director of Catechism Hilda Bustamante.

Speaking late Tuesday morning at the west Marion County crash site, Sheriff Billy Woods said his heart went out to the victims and their families. Woods said his agency is assisting investigators, especially with Spanish language translation. Officials are trying to notify the victims' families.

Woods called the people on the bus hard-working individuals and said the crash was a tragedy.

LULAC expressed its sympathy for the victims and their families, and called for more stringent safety protections of farmworkers during transportation.

"(Farmworkers) are the ones who put the food on our tables and nourish the state and our country," Florida LULAC State Director Asia Clermont in a statement. "It is too easy to dismiss this as just another accident. Florida must take every possible step to protect its essential workers, who are human beings and the backbone of the state's economy.”

Coalition of Immokalee Workers echoed LULAC's call for stringent safety standards around farmworker transportation.

"The watermelon industry is a core part of the Immokalee community, and the CIW in particular," a Coalition statement read.

"Incidents like these are far too common and we know that transportation safety laws – especially when it comes to farm labor buses – go largely unenforced.  While accidents will happen, protecting workers while transporting them with mandatory and enforceable safety provisions, like seatbelts and safety inspections, can reduce injuries and deaths when accidents do occur."

As of 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, AdventHealth Ocala had transferred two of its 16 crash patients to other facilities. "The remaining 14 patients in our care are in the process of being discharged from the hospital," a spokesperson said.

HCA Florida Ocala Hospital listed seven crash victims in critical condition and two in stable condition. Its sister facility, HCA Florida West Marion Hospital, had one patient in stable condition.

Kate Cimini is the Florida Investigative Reporter for the USA TODAY-Network Florida, based at The News-Press and The Naples Daily News. Contact her at 239-207-9369 or kcimini@news-press.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Florida bus that crashed killing 8 owned by Immokalee company