A tractor-trailer carrying frozen chicken tenders lost control Tuesday night on Interstate 85 in Banks County, causing the truck to travel down an embankment and overturn, authorities said.

According to a Georgia State Patrol report, a tour bus carrying 23 passengers traveling southbound attempted to re-enter the interstate from the right shoulder at about 10:30 p.m. near the U.S. 441 exit, causing the tractor-trailer to lose control in an attempt to avoid a collision.

"The tractor-trailer driver approached the bus at a high rate of speed, was unable to move into the left-hand lane due to traffic and he decided to go off the side of the roadway instead of striking the bus," GSP Trooper William Thomas said.

The accident occurred a short distance from a bridge above Grove River, and there were no injuries.

"If that bus had been up the road another 40 feet, and they would have been on that bridge, it would have been bad," Thomas said. "If (the driver) would have hit that bus it would have been a catastrophe."

The driver of the bus was cited for operating an unsafe vehicle and failure to yield while entering the roadway.

A section of the interstate was closed for several hours while crews pulled the tractor-trailer to the roadway.

An inspector from the Department of Agriculture also responded to the scene as a standard procedure because the tractor-trailer was carrying food to be delivered to Burger King, said the department's Public Affairs Director Arty Schronce.

"We send an inspector out to make sure that the product doesn't become contaminated or a subject of something like temperature abuse," Schronce said.

The food will be destroyed, he added.