DALLAS—The federal government said Tuesday it will temporarily stop granting licenses to new bus companies after a crash in Texas killed 17 people.

The head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told The Associated Press he wants all applications to be checked against a database of bus companies that were given out-of-service orders.

Iguala BusMex Inc., whose bus crashed near Sherman on Friday, was awaiting approval for a federal license. The company is run by a man who also operates Angel Tours Inc., which was forced to take its vehicles out of interstate service June 23 after an unsatisfactory review by federal regulators.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator John H. Hill said he did not expect the suspension to last for a long period of time. He said new licenses will eventually be granted when the agency is able to vet names and information against its existing database for out-of-service operators.

“I can’t make it a perfect world, because some people will flaunt the law,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is respond to things that we’re finding, and the thing we’re finding is people are getting creative, so we need to be creative in finding solutions.”

FMCSA has come under fire for failing to see that Iguala BusMex was simply an offshoot of Angel Tours, with the same operator, Angel de la Torre, and address. Iguala BusMex had received a U.S. Department of Transportation number but had not been approved for operation at the time of the accident.

Hill said the moratorium on new licenses is necessary while his agency tries to get its computer systems up to speed to cross-reference applicants properly.

“We’re trying desperately to set up IT systems that alert us to critical things like addresses, phone numbers, names that sound similar,” he said. “We’ve been testing it. We just haven’t got it fully implemented yet.”

On Sunday, Hill declared Angel Tours and Iguala BusMex an “imminent hazard to public safety.” The rare order means both companies must immediately cease all operation.

In Tuesday’s wide-ranging interview, he said the Sherman crash has affected him like few others.

“This was needless. This did not need to happen,” he said. “And if this person (de la Torre) was following safety regulations, we would not have these people dead today. It’s a travesty. And we should allow for people like this to receive the full weight of the law.”