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Subscribe to RSSDozens of students and parents are injured after their tour bus traveling from Indiana to Washington D.C. overturns in Kentucky. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. -- Dozens of students and parents were injured Wednesday night when a tour bus carrying them on a trip to Washington, D.C., turned over in south-central Kentucky moments into the trip, officials said.
The chartered bus was carrying 55 people, including 34 students, 20 parents and the driver, according to Kentucky State Police Trooper Jonathan Biven.
About two dozen people aboard the bus were transported for medical treatment, Hart County schools Superintendent Ricky Line said. One person suffered a head injury, Line said, and others had broken bones.
None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, Line said.
Line said the students, from the Cub Run community, were mostly sixth- to eighth-graders; some were from high school. The trip was not school-related.
Joe Imel/Daily News
Dozens of passengers were taken to the hospital Wednesday after the tour bus they were in overturned in Hart County, Ky.
"The school didn't have anything to do with it except it's our precious cargo," he said.
The bus was operated by New Image Travel of Evansville, Ind., for WorldStrides.
A phone message and email seeking comment from WorldStride were not immediately answered.
Seven minutes into trip
According to the local Bowling Green Daily News, Biven, the state trooper, said the bus crashed on Kentucky Route 728 in Hart County, about 70 miles south of Louisville, at 5:45 p.m. (6:45 p.m. ET).
WLKY TV reported that the bus ran off the right side of the road on a curve, and that no other vehicles were involved. Authorities reportedly took blood samples from the driver but said they did not believe he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The injured were being transported by ambulance or private vehicle to area hospitals.
Hardin Memorial Hospital house manager Jerry Taylor said about seven people were brought there by ambulance with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The bus had traveled just six miles before the wreck happened.
"It happened in the first seven minutes of a 14- to 15-hour bus trip, and it hadn't even left the county," Line said.
Line said he was relieved the injuries were not more serious and recognized the help of emergency workers, who scrambled ambulances to several different hospitals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Looks like another bus company gonna be shut down. Maybe it be God's way of telling young people to avoid Washington, D.C.
Or Kentucky.
Right, because a traffic accident is grounds to shut down an entire company. It's no wonder the unemployment rate is so high in this country. We hold companies to higher standards than we hold our selves.
Sounds like someone didn't know how to drive a bus. If they didn't know how to drive a bus, then yeah the company should be shut down.
Hope no one is hurt too bad but.......................
When you take a bus load of Kentuckians and shake them all up like that, do they still remain as Kentuckians, or have they all been brain damaged and downgraded to West Virginians now?
10 to 1 odds the Driver was a last minute replacement and was not fully awake or tired. Fell asleep for a few seconds and crashed.
There seems to be a lot of accidents, some with fatalities, with these charter bus companies. They hire drivers who have no experience driving large vehicles, their equipment is often substandard, and many are just outright dangerous with faulty brakes or steering. Its time for some stricter regulations and oversight on these companies.
Marty all of what you have said may be true but "lots of accidents" may not be correct when compared to auto accidents in general. We hear about the bus accidents because of the number of people involved or like this one which carried children. Don't know what the stats are for the number of miles these bus drivers drive per accident as compared to truck drivers and cars.
Sounds like an in-experanced bus driver. Just because one can drive a car, has a bus drivers licence, does not mean that person has the real life experiences to drive a bus. Taking a curve with a bus is a big deal.
Could have been a real mess.
You shouldn't be commenting until you are experienced in spelling. Two dozen injured makes it a mess.
Who are they hiring lately? There are alot of competent people in need of employment. There is no excuse for not only all the recent bus crashes, but all the people sailing their vehicles into buildings like mad. There is something really funny going on.
Texting.
I've trained and retrained hundreds of commercial drivers and there's usually one big problem; once/back on the road they revert to their 4-wheeler driving habits (which were terrible to begin with).
There is no commercial driver factory. They come from the ranks of average motorists that can't/won't/refuse to "drive".
You see 'em every day; truck drivers seemingly w/o a clue they're driving a truck.
I'm just glad there were no live threatening injuries and that everyone is going to be alright. I do feel a little bad because knowing that this all happened just a short distance from Mammoth Cave makes me want to plan a trip out there soon. Maybe I'll do a cave tour, get to do a little hiking, take the canoe out on the Green River, and see some wild life, deer and turkeys.
Daughter is currently at Disney world with the HS band. I hope their bus company is better than this one.
Editor: the bus didn't "flip", it tipped over. Words do mean things.
I am glad everyone was alright and they were not far from home when it happened. Saves the parents and all others involved tons of cash from having to travel possibly to D.C to get their kids.
I wonder what the distraction was that allowed the drift in a turn?
Was the bus outfitted with seat belts? How many were wearing them? I thought journalists were inquisitive people? It would have been my first question.
From the photograph, it appears to be a newer model vehicle. Perhaps the driver was inexperienced, or perhaps something ran across the road and he swerved to avoid it (never a good idea unles it is a person or another vehicle). Whatever the cause, I'm certainly glad there are no life-threatening injuries to the passengers.
Glad no deaths occured....
You think those drivers understand HOW to drive a bus on a curve ?... I think they cant get there foot away from the speed pedal to swing the curves/turns.....
Parents need to check the drivers record before allowing their child to ride....
When is somebody going to get wise to the idea those buses are over the center of gravity.They
are to high and very unstable . You have to be crazy to allow yourself to get in one of those damn
things and my children will never be on one .
Danny, Could you post in English so that we can understand what you meant? Every motor vehicle is built for a specific purpose. It has operating instructions that tell operators how to drive them safely. Commercial drivers take specific training and undergo road and knowledge tests prior to earning a CDL. No vehicle is inherently dangerous if it is operated properly. Your post suggests that you are simply ignorant and know absolutely nothing about commercial vehicles or driving generally.
Would like to see a properly conducted accident investigation on this one.The bus looked like a fairly late model,so maybe no mechanical problems. I am just guessing about that,as 45 years in the automotive field taught me that a factory fresh machine is only as good as the parts it is made from.A good inspection of the machine will go a long way in determining if there were mechanical problems.
As someone who lives in the county just to the north of of this incident, I am familiar with the way Kentucky secondary roads are made. And they are made with next to no shoulder. Quite often, the road has perhaps a few inches of asphalt outside the white line, and then a ditch. It is not unusual to see a ditch depth of two to three feet. When something like a bus, which is about the same width as the lane, brings a right front tire off the edge, catastrophe is almost sure to follow. Having lived in several other states in the south and west (Florida, North Carolina, Idaho, Washington, California), I find these roads especially dangerous due to the lack of wiggle room and given speed limits. When I moved to Kentucky several years ago, my auto insurance rates doubled from North Carolina. I inquired as to why, and was told Kentucky has a very high rate of single vehicle accidents resulting in fatalities. There was one last month less than a mile from our house. All that said, the driver was more than likely not familiar with the road, and made an error of inches.
As a retired HS teacher, I worked summers driving for Capital Trailways out of Montgomery, Al. I was trained well, and drove charters for 3 summers. I knew some drivers who were excellent, and some who shouldn't have been allowed to drive a mule and wagon! I tend to believe perhaps the driver was not familiar with the road as it was a county and not an Interstate. Just glad he laid it over and didn't ' flip it ' as the article stated, and that no serious injuries resulted... Plus, 55 paxs is certainly a full load and with luggage could have been a distraction.
Many of these kid/teen school groups are well behaved and cause no distractions to the bus driver. However, I have been with some groups that were completely uncontrollable - these groups often had parents who were sometimes the chief reason kids/teens were kept animated. I suppose these parents were reliving their younger years - instead of doing the job they were there to do.
And - it is true that some drivers cannot function when passengers are loud and exhibit uncontroled behavior. Certainly - there is no excuse for such behavior - they only place themselves in danger.
Who the hell was driving the bus-- Otto ?
It is interesting - if this trip had been School Sponsored - there would have been a lot of commits blaming the School for this accident. The BUS COMPANY and the Bus Driver are the responsible parties here - should not matter who sponsored the trip.
Also keep in mind - such accidents can and sometimes do happen - but - these kinds of trips are educational and build good memories for those involved. These kinds of accidents should not prevent any organization from booking these trips. It should re-enforce the need to demand that the government regulate and inspect the equipment of these companies - and - of course - periodically assess the competence of their drivers.
When a airplane with 300 passengers crashed and killed all aboard just days prior to a scheduled class trip to France - several parents had second thoughts about letting their teens fly - but - they all decided that they could not and their teens could not live in fear. All the teens and teachers who signed up for the trip flew out of the US on schedule. And - they all had a great time and returned safely.