CHINA> National
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CHINA> National
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Bus crashes in Arizona, killing 7 Chinese tourists
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-31 14:29 DOLAN SPRINGS, Ariz. -- A tour bus overturned on a highway near the Hoover Dam on Friday, killing seven Chinese nationals and injuring at least 10 other people, authorities said. Six fatalities were confirmed at the scene, about 190 miles northwest of Phoenix; a seventh person died at a Las Vegas hospital, said Cmdr. Dean Nyhart of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Nyhart said investigators were struggling to identify the injured and were not certain how many people were on the 24-passenger bus or how many had been transported to hospitals in Kingman and Las Vegas. The bus was traveling north on US 93 when it veered left and then right across the median, Nyhart said. It rolled at least once before stopping. He believes all but one of the victims killed at the scene had been ejected from the bus. Nyhart said five people had suffered life-threatening injuries. "We're hopeful that those people can be stabilized and at least the death toll stop where it is," he said. The driver of the bus was among those in critical condition, he said. The tourists on the bus were Chinese nationals who had flown from Shanghai to San Francisco and had most recently been in Las Vegas, according to DPS.The group left Las Vegas early Friday for a trip to the Grand Canyon and was returning when the crash occurred around 4 p.m. Several people rushed to the scene from a nearby diner immediately afterward. |
