Sheriff’s office investigating tour bus crash that killed one
KINGMAN, ARIZ. » An Arizona sheriff’s office was investigating a tour bus crash that killed one person and injured dozens of others, including five seriously, officials said Saturday.
The Las Vegas-based bus crashed Friday and rolled over in northwestern Arizona while headed to a Grand Canyon viewpoint on the Hualapai Reservation.
The wrecked bus was towed from the scene and examining it at a tow yard would be part of the investigation being conducted by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said.
Cause of the crash was not immediately determined and no information was available about the vehicle’s speed before the crash and other circumstances that might be related, Mortensen said.
A fire official who responded to the scene said Friday that speed appeared to be factor.
A photo provided by the sheriff’s office showed the bus on its side on a road that curves through Joshua trees with no snow or rain in the remote area.
Kingman Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Teri Williams said 40 people were released after treatment Friday for minor injuries while three others who were seriously injured remained hospitalized Saturday and two additional seriously injured patients were transferred Friday to an unspecified Las Vegas hospital. The two transferred patients’ conditions weren’t known.
No identities were released, and it wasn’t immediately known whether the passengers were in a group or where they were from. The bus was heading to Grand Canyon West, about 2 ½ hours from Las Vegas and outside the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. The tourist destination sits on the Hualapai reservation and is best known for the Skywalk, a glass bridge that juts out 70 feet from the canyon walls and gives visitors a view of the Colorado River 4,000 feet below.
In a statement issued late Friday, the Hualapai Tribe and its businesses said they were saddened by the rollover and that safety is the highest priority for guests, employees and vendors.