Buses collide on bridge, killing 4, injuring dozens
SEATTLE — An amphibious tour vehicle and a charter bus carrying foreign college students collided on a busy Seattle bridge Thursday, killing four people and sending dozens to hospitals in a wreck that scattered crumpled metal and broken glass on the road.
Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said 12 people were in critical condition, and many others had minor injuries. The crash also involved two passenger cars.
Mayor Ed Murray said foreign students were on the charter bus, and efforts were being made to contact consulates. He had no other details.
Witnesses described hearing a loud screech before the wreck and then seeing injured people either lying on the pavement or wandering around in a daze.
Jahna Dyer, a registered nurse, said she was walking across the Aurora Avenue bridge when she came upon the scene, a mess of jumbled metal and glass.
Some victims were lying on the road, while others milled about seemingly in shock and falling down, she said.
Dyer jumped a railing separating the sidewalk from the roadway and helped stabilize an injured man’s neck. She said she also helped a woman who had a cut lip and glass in her eye.
“She was holding my hand and saying thank you,” she said.
John Mundell said he was at the south end of the bridge when the crash occurred.
“We could hear the screech and twisted metal. It was surreal,” he said, adding he saw what appeared to be a few dozen people on the ground. “I wanted to try to help. I felt helpless.”
One of the vehicles involved was an amphibious, militarystyle bus operated by a tour company called “Ride the Ducks.”
The tours are known for exuberant drivers and guides who play loud music and quack through megaphones as they lead tourists around the city.
Seattle Fire Lt. Sue Stangl said emergency crews were quick to arrive at the scene and encountered several victims.
Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said the hospital expected to treat up to 10 of the most seriously injured victims, while others were being dispersed to other area hospitals.
The bridge was expected to be closed for hours as authorities investigated and cleared the wreckage, Stangl said.
The Aurora Avenue bridge carries Washington Highway 99, one of Seattle’s two primary north-south arterials, over Lake Union. It has three lanes in each direction and no barrier separating the north and southbound lanes.