It is reported that 20 elderly people have died in a bus fire outside Dallas, Texas, on a key evacuation route for Houston residents escaping Hurricane Rita.

Some reports put the death toll at 15, but local television WFAA reports 20 were killed.

"It burst into flames with black smoke coming from the bus, and then we saw the fire," witness Ashley Donald told Houston television station KTRK.

Rita's getting a head start... No fair.