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Subscribe to RSSLA GRANDE, Ore. -- Nine people were killed and at least 20 others hospitalized on Sunday after a tour bus veered out of control on an icy stretch of freeway in eastern Oregon and rolled nearly 200 feet down an embankment, state police said.
State police reported that the driver apparently lost control of the charter bus around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 and crashed through a guardrail before plunging down an embankment. The Oregonian newspaper reported that the bus tumbled nearly 200 feet before coming to a halt.
Oregon State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings told the newspaper that about 40 passengers were on the bus at the time of the crash, which occurred near milepost 227 on Interstate 84 near Deadman Pass, according to the East Oregonian newspaper.
Hastings told the East Oregonian that he learned the bus was returning to Las Vegas from British Columbia, Canada.
Rescue workers used ropes to help retrieve the injured from the scene. Westbound lanes of I-84 were closed.
The Oregonian said 18 passengers were transported to St. Anthony's Hospital in Pendleton, about 13 miles northwest of the crash scene. Hospital spokesman Larry Blanc would not say if or how many passengers sustained life-threatening injuries, it said.
Three fixed-wing aircraft also were on standby at the Pendleton airport if needed to transport injured to hospitals elsewhere, state police said.
Authorities did not immediately identify the operator of the charter bus.
Oregon State Police / Reuters
Rescue personnel respond to the scene of a charter bus crash on I-84, east of Pendleton, Ore. in this photo released on Dec. 30. Police said the bus may have gone out of control on the highway before crashing through a guardrail and down an embankment.
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One can only wonder what causes so many human beings to rant and rave w/such rudeness and disrespect regarding the pain and suffering of others...
PEACE to all directly affected by this tragedy, and also to those who are obviously deficient in basic empathy - who are clearly incapable of editing their thoughts before putting them in print.
Life is short and unpredictable. Calm down eveyone. Just breathe...
Ban ice. Ban roads. Ban cars. Ban death. Ban WATER! That way there would've been no ice on the roads for the cars to cause the death. Yay, left logic! LOL!
I guess we need to have a discussion about banning buses since they kill people.
Everyone who has taken the opportunity to take a news story about a tragic bus accident with multiple deaths and turn it into a political rant, or a gun control rant, or joke about it at all is a certified moron, who comes from a long line of morons, and whose progeny will all be morons. Yes, I would tell you that to your faces. And if you were to encounter a family member of anyone killed or injured and tried to inject your inanity into the conversation, they would probably beat you into a quivering, whimpering lump of bloody goo, soaking in your own urine and feces. And they would be totally justified, and no jury in the world would convict them of anything.
This story is a terrible tragedy for all involved, as well as their families, and offering one's condolences to the families of the deceased, and best wishes and hope to those injured, it the only appropriate thing to do. Nobody knows exactly what the circumstances of the accident are, and yet many are already attempting to blame the driver. Have any of you ever hit black ice? I doubt it, or you wouldn't be making stupid comments here. I know people who have, and destroyed their vehicles and sustained life-threatening injuries as a result. They weren't speeding, they weren't texting, they weren't applying makeup, but had the simple misfortune of going down a hill where a stretch of invisible black ice caused their vehicle to lose all traction and braking, and go into an uncontrolled spin or hit a curb and rolled over.
I sincerely hope those injured recover from their injuries completely, and can only offer my condolences to the families of the deceased.
I had three friends die in a vehicle accident years ago. While sitting at the accident site with some of the deceased family members some onlookers started cracking jokes. One of the family members did exactly what you described above. He beat the everlivinghell out of the punks. Unfortunately he was arrested and spent 6 months in jail for assault and battery involving injuries.
He is my kind of hero. I hope i am never confronted with that type of situation, but if I were, the outcome for the punks would be the same. The judge who sentenced him should burn in hell.
I am a school bus driver. I dont know everything, but I know some things. The small van buses have seat belts. The kg kids are required to be strapped in. The big buses dont have belts. Its almost impossible for the driver to check every kid every minute for compliance. I spend most of my time looking thru the windshield. If I do see a kg kid out his seat, I will stop the bus, redo the seat belt, and/or write the kid up.
BAN BUSES!!!
Obviously Obama needs to ban tour buses.
Tragic.
While I agree with your statement, you sir are on the wrong thread.
Regardless of seat belts and the fiscal cliff and how you feel about baby gay whales, that bus had no business being on that section of road. ODOT provides almost constant information about road conditions. If a person is driving their private vehicle and disregards or chooses not to utilize that information that is one thing, but if a commercial business that hauls people around disregards that information, that is cause for further scrutiny.
Judging from the photo, this accident happened between the rest area at the top of Cabbage hill and the weigh station just before you start down the hill. This time of year the roads are horrible over Meacham. Fog, white-outs, and black ice are always expected. We tend to drive over Tollgate rather than take the freeway. Praying for survivors.... join me....
i feel speed was involed i used to take buses, like grayhound, when they we were late they would put the speed on, lead-foot. i don't know, but we need to slow down, i had a C.H.P. tell us in drivers ed better to be late than to never show theres truth to that!.
I am so sorry for the people who have lost their lives, the injured, and the families who are experiencing pain, fear, and a terrible sense of loss.
And I am horribly embarrassed to be sharing the planet with so many heartless fools who are using this tragedy as an opportunity to make foolish (and irrelevant) statements about gun control, bus size, seatbelt use, etc. Go find a blog somewhere to post your sarcastic rants. Demonstrate a little respect and concern for the loss that has just occurred...
Condolances to the victims families.
What we have here is a big problem. Busses and poor conditions kill hundreds every year. We need bus control legislation to stop these kinds of incidents. Lets get the president and vice president to form a commission to make a law.
Another MASS KILLING by bus?! How about it NBC--why don't you plaster the headlines with every possible angle of this story along with the grieving families, stricken faces, blood stained seats...make this the only news for a week straight, funerals, on and on. Then you can trot out the predictable derivatives: "People are terrified to ride buses!", "Sales of crash helmet's soar.", "Parents are afraid to put kids on buses."...and milk it for another week! Oh that's right--bus crashes happen all the time and no guns involved plus--unlike school shootings which rarely happen, you can't help cause copycat bus crashes with your media feeding frenzy. Worth a 'shot' tho maybe, huh NBC?
But if all media would just focus on bus crashes for 12 months Time Magazine can call 2013 "The Year of Bus Crashes."
I see that you have mastered the Caps Lock Key, Boldface, and Italics. Now why don't you try working on making some sort of sense?
Mymomdidnotraiseafool ,
I should have written it better, lot of haste in this sort of forum. But clearly a FEW got it.
I got it. It's pretty simple really.
Wow, just a few sicko's commenting something about Obama, when he was 3000 miles away from it. Sure glad the trolls are out, we can make more fun at them. Yep, it's winter time, and accidents will happen. Condolences to the families.
Some 800 kids are killed traveling to and from school every year, yet even when a school bus crashes and a large number die at once the press and politicians ignore it, and no changes are made. What's wrong with their priorities, that they make a big deal over 20 deaths in CT and ignore hundreds of others?
It's all about what stories sell. The public has wildly distorted relative risk assesments due to what makes headlines instead of just looking at statistics. And of course big media play us by creating issues, one feeds the next. Now that this bus crash made big news it's much more likely that the next one will also make news and so on until the public gets the impression that bus crashes are happening much more frequently when they might actually be on the decline.
With the discusting over playing, media milking, of the Newtown thing one might overlook the fact that the murder rate in US is at all time lows along with most other crimes. It's absolutly laughable that 'parents would be afraid to send kids to school' except for the distorted focus on one rare incident. Did anyone notice that school shootings are also less frequent then they were in the past? Nope--doesn't make good headlines.
That part of the Deadman Pass region will now be known as:
Deadman Drop
Thank You to the first responders... this must have been one of the worst days of your life... I appreciate you more every time I turn on the news
So terrifying. What a horrible way to die or even suffer, it looks so cold! Thoughts and prayers are with all the family of passenegers that were lost in death and those still suffering. And thank goodness for our first responders that have lives available to serve others in need.
Craig, David, Jed, Ben, Jason, Mark, and your fellow responders... find a new line of work, why do you want to do this? I can't imagine.................................................. god bless you define daily courage... just like our troops... it's too bad our country does not respect their brothers as you guys do...
needs moar lawsssszzzzzzz! rabble rabble rabble!!!
Great... Now we'll have to ban tour buses since they kill people...
A tour bus ran off an icy road resulting in nine fatalities. Unfortunately, charter busses have many unique challenges. Their size makes them inherently difficult to drive. Add fifty passengers watching movies, getting up to go to the bathroom, and slinging luggage around and you’ve created a dangerous situation. Drivers have to be alert and experienced. Extra caution should be taken during hazardous weather. Many areas of Virginia are mountainous, which make winter weather conditions especially dangerous. If you are driving through western Virginia during this time of year, drive slow and cautiously. Be safe Virginia!