Alien Ant Farm's tour bus crashed into a parked truck early this morning on a highway about 120 miles west of Madrid, Spain, killing the driver. Singer Dryden Mitchell injured his back in the accident, guitarist Terry Corso broke his ankle, bassist Tye Zamora injured his foot and drummer Mike Cosgrove was treated for cuts and bruises. The group's tour manager and several tour technicians were also injured.

Alien Ant Farm was near Navalmoral de la Mata en route to Lisbon, Portugal, for one of the final performances on their ten-date European tour, which was scheduled to wrap Friday. The band was expected to return to the U.S. on Saturday to play the WHFS Festival on Sunday at Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium. The band is also slated to play with Sevendust, Default, Nickelback and Godsmack at this year's Rolling Rock Town Fair, to be held on July 27th on the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds in Greenland, Pennsylvania. The D.C. appearance has been cancelled.

"We send out condolences and prayers to the family of the driver," the band's management said in a statement. "We're obviously very fortunate and thankful the band and crew survived the accident."

JOHN D. LUERSSEN and ANDREW DANSBY
(May 22, 2002)