At Least 50 Injured In Bus Crash
COLUSA COUNTY, Calif. -- A bus heading from Sacramento to a rural Northern California casino flipped and rolled into a ditch Sunday evening, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 30 others.Witnesses in Colusa County told KCRA 3 that they saw the bus cartwheel in the air and go into a ditch near Lone Star and Abel roads at about 6:15 p.m.Aerial images captured by LiveCopter 3 HD show a burn damage on the bus. Officials said that about a dozen victims were ejected from the bus and went into a field.
Thirty to 38 people suffered critical injuries, while the rest of the passengers received moderate to minor injuries. Victims were taken to hospitals around the region.
None of the victims' identities was immediately released.Emergency crews were seen combing the area near the field looking for other possible victims. They also were looking under the bus.The road where the crash took place was not a heavily traveled road, and California Highway Patrol officials said it was still light outside when the crash took place.According to CHP's Sgt. Brian Donnelly, the bus was heading north when it drifted off the right shoulder, flipped and came to a stop on the west shoulder of the road.Donnelly said he thought that the bus probably had room to roll only once.The bus driver was walking around after the wreck, Donnelly said, but sustained a serious injury. CHP investigators were trying to get a statement from the driver.Sgt. Pat Lundreth with the CHP told KCRA 3 that the driver was on medication.Initial reports from law enforcement indicated a Greyhound bus had crashed. But Chris Brooks, with Greyhound in Sacramento, said all buses and personnel were accounted for and running smoothly.Greyhound spokeswoman Kim Plaskett said that the bus involved in the crash was sold more than two years ago.The bus dated back to the 1980s, Plaskett said, and had no seat belts.She also said all the Greyhound decals from the bus had been removed before it was sold. The insignia on the bus now may be from the ghosting from the decals that were already removed.Investigators are working to figure out why the bus crashed. Michael Lynch, a truck driver familiar with the road where the crash took place, said that he thinks there is a "jog in the road" near the crash scene.The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash along with local law enforcement.Hospitals around Northern California received victims from the crash, including:
At Enloe Medical Center, victims were entering with broken arms and legs and other injuries. One victim died at the hospital at about 10 p.m.At least 10 people were taken to UC Davis Medical Center for treatment.Officials said that eight air ambulances from the area responded to the crash. Credit to KCRA for the story
CNN is saying 9 dead now, but KCRA is still sticking with 8 for the time being.
UPDATE from KCRA:
COLUSA COUNTY, Calif. -- A bus involved in a crash that killed at least 10 people along a rural Northern California road didn't have a valid license plate, according to the California Highway Patrol. The bus driver, Quinton J. Watts, was taken to Woodland Hospital and is in critical condition, hospital officials said.
Watts was walking around after the wreck, Donnelly said, but sustained a serious injury.
CHP told reporters from KCRA that the license plate on the bus is not registered in any DMV system and that the bus is out of Dallas, which is where Greyhound is also located but that it came from a private company in Dallas but that the plates were not valid. They also told reporters that the driver, Quinton J. Watts was on medication and they have taken blood samples to determine if his meds had anything to do with the accident.
Also according to investigators, language may present a problem in investigating what happened, as all the passengers seem to be from Laos.
UPDATE:
WILLIAMS, Calif. -- The driver of a casino bus that careened out of control on a rural Northern California road, killing eight people and injuring as many as 35 was arrested early Monday on the suspicion of driving under the influence charges, authorities said.California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Kays said that Quinton Joey Watts, 52, was being charged with suspicion of driving under the influence charges. Watts suffered serious injuries in the crash and remained hospitalized Monday.“We have arrested him for felony DUI,” Kays said. “There is no evidence of alcohol on the bus so we are looking into prescription or non-prescription drugs.”The CHP also was investigating the licensing of the bus. It reportedly had expired Texas plates on it.Authorities said the bus crashed at about 6:10 p.m. Sunday on a rural road near Williams -- about 60 miles north of Sacramento -- as it headed to Colusa Casino Resort from Sacramento.Citing a paperwork error, the California Highway Patrol lowered the number of dead in the accident to eight on Monday morning with an estimated that 35 others were injured. "It looks like they were going up to the casino to have a good time," California Highway Patrol Commander Fran Clader said. "Unfortunately, it resulted in tragedy." The bus was about 10 miles from its destination when it drifted to one side of the road for about half a mile before the driver "overcorrected" and swerved back. The bus rolled over, ejecting some of its passengers before it landed right side up in a ditch, CHP spokesman Patrick Landreth said. "The roof was collapsed down, the windows were broken out, and the bus was not only rolled over onto its side, it rolled completely over," Landreth said. "It was facing the opposite direction and it was on its wheels." Authorities had not determined the name of the charter company early Monday morning. They did not release the name of the driver. CHP spokesman Robert Kays said the bus had a Texas license plate that was "not valid." He said other registration serial numbers also came up invalid. "There are still several pieces of this puzzle that's missing," Kays said. "We will find out who owns the bus." CHP dispatcher Terry Troth said no other cars appeared to be involved in the crash. Troth said he did not know the extent of the injuries. He said emergency responders were having trouble communicating with the passengers because many spoke Lao. Clader said helicopters took victims to several area hospitals, which authorities said included Colusa Regional Medical Center, Enloe Medical Center in Chico and UC Davis Medical Center. Firefighters used flashlights and infrared sensors to search the tall grass near the overturned bus Sunday night for more possible bodies, but by early Monday were certain that they had accounted for all the victims. The mud-covered bus was pulled from the ditch and was on a large tow truck. The crash took place in an area of rice fields and orchards a few miles east of Interstate 5 just north of Williams. "We have several tour buses that come through the area and rarely do we see any problems with them at all," Landreth said. Laura Hennum, a spokeswoman for Enloe Medical Center, said 12 victims were admitted to the hospital. She said one died, three were in critical condition and two were in serious condition. Six other patients were being evaluated Sunday night. "We activated our disaster response center, so we have been calling in additional staff," she told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Tags: World
posted by fast_rush | Sunday, October 05, 2008
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