Bus Accident Lawyer

Two major bus accidents occurring on opposite sides of the globe this weekend have led to the deaths of three people, with dozens more injured.

In the first incident, students hailing from Queens in New York were injured after their charter bus crashed in Columbus, Ohio, while taking the students home after a school even in St Louis. 16 students and three adult teachers from William Cullen Bryant High School in Queens were returning home from a robotics competition in St Louis which the bus driver appeared to lose control of their bus, causing the bus to topple over onto its side at approximately 7.30am on Sunday morning.

According to reports from CBS news, the bus toppled over as the driver was taking an exit from Interstate 70 eastbound in Columbus. 15 students and four adults sustained minor injuries in the accident, and were taken to hospital where they were treated. All have since been discharged from hospital.

A second charter bus was hired for the remainder of the journey after the injured were released from hospital. Following the accident, a spokesperson for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reported that the bus operators had failed to comply with requests from the FMCSA for a full compliance audit of the company’s fleet of buses. The bus company was operating under the name Platinum Magic Carpet Ride LLC, and had been issued a warning by the State of Maryland that their operating license may be revoked within 10 days if they did not complete the required compliance audit.

The cause of the accident is not yet known, and local police are currently conducting an investigation into the incident.

In other bus accident news, three Taiwanese tourists were killed on Monday after their tour bus slid off the road and plunged down a slope in a mountainous area of China’s Hunan Province. According to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, the bus was carrying 14 Taiwanese tourists and was en route to the World Heritage site of Zhangjiajie when the accident occurred. Three members of the group were killed instantly in the crash, with the remaining 11 passengers injured. 

The group was travelling on a tour organized by the Taiwanese travel agency Lion Travel, which confirmed that the group had left Taiwan for China on Sunday. Representatives from Lion Travel will be travelling to China to help the victims of the accident, said the company.

A teenage girl has been killed and 20 others injured after a minibus en route to a hen party collided with a lorry on the M62 in England on Friday evening.

The family members of Miss Bethany Jones, who was only 18 when she was killed in the accident, have paid tribute to the teenager, saying that she would never be forgotten. Family and friends of Jones described her as a fun and bubbly girl, and said that she was a wonderful friend and daughter.

‘She was the apple of her grandad’s eye and she will never be forgotten,’ said Jones’s grandmother on Saturday. Outpourings of tribute, love and support have been pouring in to Bethany’s Facebook page since the tragic accident.

Seven other teenage girls who were involved in the accident remain in hospital in a serious condition, and a hospital spokesperson has confirmed that the injured girls sustained severe injuries but are currently stable. Another woman who was injured in the accident remains in the intensive care unit with life-threatening injuries.

The horrific crash, which occurred on the westbound carriage of the M62 at 11.30 on Friday morning, injured a total of 20 people. Firefighters and first responders who arrived on the scene described the accident as one of the worst accidents they had seen in some time.

The hen party group, which included young bride to be Stefanie Firth, were traveling to Liverpool for a day out from South Emsall in Yorkshire when the minibus collided with a lorry at a junction on the M62. Six ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the accident after eye witnesses called in to the emergency center to report the crash. The most seriously injured passengers were airlifted to hospital via helicopter while the remaining passengers were taken to local medical centers by ambulance.

Earlier in the week, an excited Bethany had tweeted about the hen party, saying ‘This weekend can’t come quick enough.’ Eye witness Pritpal Singh, a 28 year old chartered accountant from Leeds, was traveling behind the minibus when the accident occurred and described the shocking accident, saying that the collision occurred so quickly that he was not sure which driver had been at fault.

The minibus driver will be questioned once he has recovered from his injuries, and the driver of the lorry has been arrested in connection with the incident while investigations are ongoing, said an officer for the West Yorkshire Police.

14 people, all members of a wedding party, were injured in a bus accident in Belfast, Ireland after their private hire bus toppled over off the road into a field on Saturday afternoon. None of the people injured sustained serious injuries and all have since been released from hospital.

The minister who conducted the wedding ceremony just before the accident, has praised the positive attitude of the 60 guests who were on board the bus at the time of the incident, saying that those involved made an effort to ensure that the day remained one of joy for the newlyweds.

Amy Adair and Robbie Sinclair were married by the minister at Fisherwish Presbyterian Church by Rev Derek McKelvy in Belfast on Saturday afternoon. After the marriage ceremony, wedding guests boarded a Routemaster bus to be transported to the reception, in Montalto Estate in Co Down. En route to the reception venue, the top heavy bus toppled over, landing in a ditch on Ballynahunch Road.

Of the 60 passengers on board the bus, 14 sustained injuries and were taken to local hospitals for treatment. The remaining passengers received treatment for minor lacerations and bruises on the scene, and were able to continue on to the reception.

Rev McKelvy praised the bus accident victims who still made the effort to get to the reception, saying that despite the difficult circumstances, the guests rallied together to ensure that the newlywed’s day went according to plan.

Andrew Ewing, a DUP councillor in Lisburn and a member of the town’s road safety committee, said that this portion of road was treacherous and that many accidents occur here each year. Ewing also said that he was grateful that no one was seriously injured.

Passengers who were involved in the accident said that there was panic after the incident, with people scrambling over each other to get out of the overturned bus. Emergency vehicles responded promptly to the scene, after it was reported by eye witnesses at approximately 4.10 pm.

John McPoland, a spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, said that the accident scene was chaotic by the time the emergency personnel arrived, with passengers very worried about the well-being of fellow passengers. Thanfully, however, no one was seriously injured.

The exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined, and a thorough investigation is currently underway.

Three young British citizens remain in a critical condition in hospitals in France following Tuesday’s tragic bus accident in the French Alps, in which the bus driver was killed and 26 passengers injured, four seriously so.

19 year old Catrin Pugh has been named as one of the critically injured individuals, as well as another young man who has not yet been identified in the press. Pugh and this man are currently in induced comas in CHU de Grenoble hospital while they are awaiting surgery for the injuries sustained in the accident, said a spokesperson from the hospital on Friday.

Another 23 year old woman, who sustained burns to more than 80 percent of her body after the bus caught alight, has been transferred to a specialist burn unit at Edouard Herriot, a tertiary level hospital in the French city of Lyon. She is currently in intensive care and in a critical condition.

Pugh’s father was expected to arrive in France on Friday night to be with his daughter in hospital. The Pugh family were based in Wrexham, north Wales.

According to the lead investigating officer who is looking into the accident, it appears that brake failure is the most likely cause of the accident, which killed bus driver Maurice Wrightson instantly. Wrightson was earlier in the week praised for his courage in the accident.  The 63 year old Briton, who hailed from Ashington, Northumberland, was working for the bus company Arriva, transporting a bus full of young Britons who had completed working at French ski resorts for the winter back to the UK.

Although the official investigation into the accident has not yet been completed, it appears that the brakes of the bus failed as the driver was approaching the last of a series of 21 treacherous hairpin bends on the Alpine road, which is part of the Tour de France cycle tour and rises over eight miles to a height of 6100 feet.

In more bus accident news this week, at least nine people have been killed and 50 injured in Bahawalpur, Pakistan after a passenger bus collided with a tree. According to police reports, the bus driver was attempting to avoid a motorcycle that was driving towards the bus in the oncoming lane when it struck the tree and overturned. Eight passengers, including two children, died instantly in the accident, with a further passenger succumbing to his injuries in hospital.

Two major bus accidents this week have killed five people and injured scores of others, and has raised questions surrounding the safety of tour bus transportation.

1. Five people have been killed near the city of Antwerp in Belgium after their tour bus veered off a highway bridge and landed on its side. The driver of the tour bus, which was registered in Poland, appeared to lose control of the bus suddenly while the bus was travelling on an elevated section of the E34 highway near Antwerp. According to eye witness reports, the bus sailed through the barriers on the side of the highway and plunged six meters to the underlying road, landing on its side, at sunrise on the 14^th of April, 2013.

The bus was carrying 42 Russian teenagers on a tour from Volgograd in Russia to Paris, France. It has been confirmed that three Russian citizens and two Polish citizens were killed in the accident, although their identities have not yet been released to the press. The remaining 37 passengers and the bus driver all sustained injuries in the accident, ranging from severe to minor. The injured passengers were transported to local hospitals where they are receiving treatment. One passenger remains in a critical condition.

According to initial reports from police, the bus driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel. However a thorough investigation will be conducted into the cause of the accident in the following weeks. No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

2. In another tour bus accident this week, a tour bus carrying tourists on its way back from Yosemite National Park in California lost control and crashed into a tree on Highway 41, injuring all 16 passengers on board the bus at the time. Most of those who were injured were elderly.

The cause of the Yosemite bus accident has not yet been determined, but it is thought that the bus driver may have been speeding. The section of the road where the accident occurred is winding, and the speed limit drops to 35 miles per hour, said California Highway Patrol Offiver Scott Jobinger.

The bus driver has been identified as 49 year old Changefeng Liu, an employee of Seven Happiness Tour and Charter company. Liu has been working for the company for the last six years and has a clean safety record, according to a spokesperson for the company who made a statement to the media on Sunday.       

1. A bus crashed this last evening (Saturday, April 13^th, 2013) just south of Yosemite National Park as a group of elderly park visitors left the reserve. The California State Highway Patrol reports that a total of 16 people out of the 17 aboard were injured in the bus crash.

The bus was traveling on Highway 41 near local road 630 at approximately 6pm in the evening when it veered off the road. No passengers were apparently critically wounded, but all were transported to three different local medical facilities for examination.

Officers state that the driver, the only person on the bus not injured, lost control of the bus while driving 40 miles per hour and that the bus was brought to a stop when it crashed into a roadside tree. The presence of the tree actually saved the bus from falling down a ravine, said Sergeant Edward Greene.

The newspaper said the injured people — the majority of whom were elderly — were taken to three area hospitals with minor to moderate injuries.

2. Yesterday afternoon, a Washington D.C. Metrobus crashed into a private minivan, resulting in 15 injured passengers.

A Metro spokeswoman reports that Bus A9 was on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue when the minivan improperly changed lanes in the front of the bus. The minivan’s driver was cited for the error at the scene of the accident.

Lon Walls, spokesman for the D.C. Fire Department, reports that 2 of the 15 injured passengers sustained serious injuries, but are in stable condition.

3. A bus crash in Ranst, Belgium near Antwerp took the lives of 5 Russian young people and injured 12 this morning at approximately 6:30am local time. Ranst Mayor, Lode Hofmans, says that the bus crashed through a guardrail on highway E34 and fell sixteen feet onto the field below. The bus overturned and threw passengers out of the bus as it fell.

It was a Polish bus transporting 42 people from Russia to Paris. The dead include the driver of the bus, an adult sponsor for the group, and three teenagers.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash and investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the bus crash.

4. Finally, a crowded bus in Trujillo, Peru crashed into the Moche River yesterday morning at approximately 4am local time, killing 33 passengers. Local news reports that besides passengers filling the seats, there were also many standing in the aisles, no doubt contributing to the number of fatalities.

The bus was traveling from Huamacho to Trujillo. The reason for the bus crash is not immediately apparent, though the early hour of the drive and driver drowsiness is at the top of the list of suspected contributing factors.

1. A school bus crashed into a tree in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. The crashed occurred at approximately eight o’clock on the morning of Monday, April 8^th.

The bus driver was carrying forty students to Sutherland Elementary, heading down River Road when the driver lost control near the intersection with Logan Knoll Lane. The bus left the roadway and was stopped by a roadside tree.

Eight of the students, ranging between six and twelve years of age, were rushed to Southside Regional Medical Hospital, though with seemingly only minor injuries, including lacerations, bumps, and soreness, according to Terry Tysinger, spokeswoman for Southside. The bus driver sustained no reported injuries.

Some were transported by ambulance to the hospital, complete with backboards for precautionary sake, while others went with their parents when they arrived.

Virginia State Police are continuing to investigate the cause of the bus crash.

2. Another school bus crash occurred at 7:30am in Vallecitos, New Mexico on its Monday morning pick-up run. The bus rolled over after steering down a ditch on State Road 111 . The bus driver died at the scene, according to Jake Arnold, spokesperson for New Mexico State Police.

Nine students, between ages seven and fifteen, were injured, but are in stable condition, says Nicki Allcorn, Presbyerian Espanola Hospital spokesperson. One student was airlifted to Albuquerque for treatment. This one, plus three of other students are still being treated.

The crash took place in Rio Arriba County on the bus’ way to the Ojo Caliente elementary school. Response time to the crash was lengthened due to the unavailability of cell phone service in the area.

Police are investigating what caused the bus crash, but suspect that the driver experienced something akin to a seizure or perhaps a heart attack, causing him to lose control of the vehicle. It is unknown at this time whether he died because of a medical condition or as a result of the bus crash.

3. Theresa Watson, who lost her husband and was injured herself in a North Carolina bus crash this past Friday, April 5th, was released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital today.

Theresa, age fifty-seven, was on the bus traveling from Chapel Hill to Hampton University for its High School Day. The bus driver lost control at approximately 7a.m. and the bus ran off the road, flipping over, and ejecting Theresa and husband Doval (age fifty-eight), who died instantly.

None of the other six passengers were harmed, says North Carolina State Police.

The driver of the bus, Mr. Larry Brocks from Raleigh has been charged with driving recklessly.

1. An ambulance from the Chicago Fire Department was responding to a call when it and a school bus crashed. Two paramedics were injured, though not severely and were taken to Resurrection Hospital and Northwestern Memorial separately. The school bus driver was the only one on board and declined medical treatment, apparently having suffered no injuries.

The ambulance / bus crash occurred on Saturday, April 6^th at approximately 9:20 a.m. at the corner of Central and Grand Avenues in the neighborhood of Hanson Park, on the Northwest Side. According to Joseph Roccasalva, the Chicago Fire Department Chief, the team was on its way to West Grand with its siren on and emergency lights lit.

Jose Estrada, spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, said that they are investigating the cause of the crash.

2. On Friday, April 5^th, a man driving a Jeep Wrangler crashed into another school bus about fifty miles north of Chicago in Wadsworth. The children and driver of the bus were taken to the hospital, but none sustained serious injuries. The drive of the Jeep, however, Philip Smith, age 62, from Beach Park, died in the bus crash and two of his passengers were rushed to the hospital via ambulance.

Some eye-witness reports claimed that the female bus driver ran a red light, but others contradicted that statement. Police continue to investigate how the crash occurred, according to Mark Curran Jr., the County Sheriff.

3. A Nigerian official reports that around thirty-six people were killed in southwestern Nigeria on the afternoon of Friday, April 5^th, when a bus crashed into a gasoline tanker, causing the tanker to explode.

The tanker / bus crash occurred in the Nigerian state of Edo. Jonas Agwu, spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps, said that the resulting fire wasn’t put out for hours and that the death toll could be higher than originally thought. We do know that three people on the bus survived the crash, but their condition is unknown.

Despite its wealth from oil production, Nigeria still has some of the worst roads in West Africa. Large potholes and uneven paving, in conjunction with aggressive drivers, result in a more than average number of crashes. The World Health Organization reports that Nigeria boasts one of the highest death rates related to traffic accidents worldwide.

4. A charter bus flipped over on Friday, April 5^th, on its way to Hampton University in North Carolina. Doval Watson was thrown from the bus and killed instantly. Theresa Watson, his wife, was injured, but not critically.

The driver of the bus reportedly lost control of the vehicle and has been charged with reckless driving.

The family asked for prayers in a statement to the press on Saturday.

1. Two passenger buses near the Nigerian capital of Abuja crashed early Wednesday morning, April 3rd. According to Jonas Agwu, official of Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Corps, the mash up occurred when one of the drivers fell asleep at the wheel and swerved into the oncoming lane of traffic.

The World Health Organization shows that Nigeria currently has one of the highest fatality rates for traffic accidents, due in part at least to Nigeria’s poor roads and high usage of public transport. As in the case of this bus crash, with more people using buses on poorly paved roads, the likelihood of multiple deaths in one crash rises. The worn and potholed roads increase the likelihood of accidents altogether.

2. In Mitchell County, Georgia, a car (a Mazda Protege) hit a school bus on the Thursday morning run, sending twenty-one students to the hospital for examinations. Victor Hill, the district superintendent, said that only three students said they were sore after the crash. None were seriously injured.

A tragic bus accident in the state of Veracruz, Mexico on the Easter weekend has killed 12 people and left 14 more injured, say local authorities.

According to reports from the public safety department of the state of Veracruz in Mexico, the bus was travelling between the cities of Misantla and Xalapa on the night of Saturday, March 31, just one day before Easter Sunday. While traversing the treacherous, winding road through the mountains, the bus had a head on collision with a truck that was coming from the opposite direction. It is not clear which of the drivers was at fault in the incident.

After colliding with the oncoming truck, the passenger bus plunged off the side of the road and down a cliff. The bus flipped over a number of times and rolled to the bottom of a deep canyon, approximately 300 feet off the road, before coming to a rest on its roof. According to weather reports and local authorities, there was thick mist on the road at the time of the accident. It is thought that the bad weather and poor visibility may have contributed to the accident, although investigations are still ongoing.

It is significant in the largely Catholic country of Mexico that this accident comes on the Easter weekend, a time that is usually filled with celebration with family. This accident comes just less than a year after another fatal bus accident in Veracruz. On April 20^th, 2012, 43 people were killed and dozens more injured, including seven children, after a fully loaded passenger bus collided with a trailer that had broken loose from a truck in the northern portion of the Veracruz state, outside the town of Alamo.

The 2012 accident was one of the most fatal accidents in Mexico’s history. According to the accident report from the 2012 incident, the bus involved in the crash was carrying more than 70 passengers, although it was only licensed to transport 60. All of the passengers were farm workers from local farms that were being transported home. Similar circumstances of thick fog and a head on collision with another vehicle made the 2012 accident and this accident eerily alike.

More information is expected to be released about Saturday’s accident as the investigation into the incident continues. The deceased have not yet been identified in the press, as their next of kin are yet to be informed about their death.