A non-English-speaking trucker has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a fiery wreck that killed 10 people on U.S. Highway 75 in Texas in 2004.

According to the Dallas Morning News, prosecutors say 46-year-old Miroslaw Jozwiak had no more than two-and-a-half hours sleep in the 36 hours preceding the crash.

At his sentencing Monday, April 3, Jozwiak spoke through a Polish-speaking interpreter.

In a tearful statement he said, “I am very sorry.  I felt that I would prefer myself to die in this accident rather than those people.”