• Highway Patrol: Bus at 'unsafe' speed before Yosemite wreck that injured 16

    By John S. Marshall, The Associated Press

    SAN FRANCISCO — A tour bus carrying visitors from Yosemite National Park was traveling at an unsafe speed when the driver lost control and crashed on a mountain road, leaving 16 people injured, the California Highway Patrol said Sunday.

    The bus was about six miles outside of the south entrance of the park when it went off Highway 41, a winding mountain road when it crashed about 6 p.m. Saturday. It came to a stop when it hit a tree, CHP Officer Scott Jobinger said.

    Fifteen passengers and a tour guide suffered minor to moderate injuries.

    "At this point the cause was the bus was traveling at unsafe speed and went off the road," Jobinger said. He said the accident remained under investigation to determine if other factors played a role.

    CHP Sgt. Edward Green told the Fresno Bee that the impact of the crash caused several passengers to be thrown to the driver's side of the bus, with the bus stopping when it hit the tree.

    "If the tree wasn't there to stop the bus, it would have continued down the ravine," Greene said.

    The 15 injured passengers, described as mostly elderly, and a tour guide were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

    Four of the injured were treated at Community Regional Medical Center, and four were treated at Clovis Community Medical Center, said Jennifer Avila-Allen, a spokeswoman for the hospitals. All but one at Community Regional had been released, she said. The conditions of the others, taken to a different hospital, were not known.

    The bus was towed to an impound yard where it will be inspected to see if any mechanical problems may have contributed to the crash, Jobinger said.

    The bus driver, identified as Changefeng Liu, 49, of Fremont, Calif., was the only person on the bus who was not hurt. He has not been arrested, and alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash.

    Investigators have not determined the exact speed of the bus at the time it went off the roadway, but the scenic highway has sharp curves where the speed limits drop to 35 miles per hour, Jobinger said.

    The bus is operated by Seven Happiness Tour & Charter, a Burlingame, Calif.-based company that specializes in providing tours to the Chinese-American community, said Charles Wu, who works at the company and answered the phone at its headquarters Sunday. He said the owner would not be available to comment until Monday.

    "Most of them (passengers) were Chinese people from the Bay Area," Wu said.

    Wu said he had not talked to the bus driver since the crash and have few details about the incident, but said Liu had worked for the company for about six years.

    Liu could not be reached for comment.

    The tour bus company, which operates six motor coaches and six mini-buses or vans, has not had any crashes in the last 24 months, according to records with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Bus crashes down embankment near Yosemite park: 16 hurt

    By Alastair Jamieson and Justin Kirschner, NBC News

    A tour bus crashed off an embankment near Yosemite National Park, leaving 16 people with minor injuries, California Highway Patrol said.

    The bus was about 40 miles south of the park when the accident occurred around 6 p.m. Saturday, the Merced Dispatch office said.

    Of the 17 people on board, 16 were transported to local hospitals, the patrol said.

    No further details were immediately available.

  • Yosemite doubles scope of hantavirus warning to 22,000; third death confirmed

    California's Yosemite National Park is warning more than 20,000 past visitors they are at risk of exposure to the potentially deadly Hantavirus after it claimed another victim. Three people have died out of a total eight people infected after using cabins in the park this summer. NBC's  Janet Shamlian reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    Updated at 8:12 a.m. ET: A third person has died from the rare, rodent-carried hantavirus after visiting Yosemite National Park, bringing the total number of infected persons to eight and prompting warnings that the virus is not contained to just one area of the park, health officials said.

    Yosemite National Park doubled the scope of its warning on Thursday to some 22,000 visitors who may have been exposed to the deadly mouse-borne disease.

    U.S. officials had recently sounded a worldwide alert, saying that up to 10,000 people were thought to be at risk of contracting Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) after staying at "Signature Tents" at the Curry Village lodging area between June and August.

    As many as 2,500 of those individuals live outside the United States, health officials said. 

    Read more on this story on NBCLosAngeles.com

    Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman identified the third fatality as a West Virginia resident who contracted hantavirus while staying in Curry Village tent cabins in June. The person died at the end of July, and laboratory tests confirmed on Thursday that the death was due to hantavirus, he said.

    DNC Parks and Resorts via AP

    Officials are expanding their efforts to notify visitors to a complex of tent cabins at Yosemite National Park who may have been exposed to a rare but potentially deadly rodent-carried virus.

    Since June, eight park visitors, including six from California, have contracted the virus, according to Yosemite officials. Three of those infections have been fatal. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), hantavirus is spread by contact with infected rodents, primarily deer mice.

    On Thursday, it was revealed that the virus is not confined to Curry Village, according to a statement from the park.

    One of the infected campers, who exhibited mild symptoms and is recovering, stayed in multiple High Sierra Camps in Yosemite in July.

    The five High Sierra Camps are similar to the Curry Village tent cabins, but they're spaced about six to 10 miles apart and are accessible only via backpacking trails at higher elevation than Yosemite Valley.

    US officials sound worldwide alert for Yosemite hantavirus

    The other seven cases have all been connected to the historic Curry Village tent cabins, which were recently been closed to the public.

    No cure
    It can take up to six weeks for symptoms of the virus to show, though they usually appear two to four weeks after exposure. Early stage symptoms include fatigue, fever and body aches, and can rapidly progress to severe difficulty breathing.

    While there is no cure for hantavirus, oxygen treatment can increase the chance of survival for infected persons in severe respiratory distress and early detection is key, CDC spokeswoman Lola Russell said.

    The CDC warns that thousands of campers at Yosemite National Park could be at risk for the hantavirus. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    Hantavirus was first thrust into the public's awareness in 1993, when the virus was identified during an outbreak in the southwestern U.S.

    CDC officials say the 1993 outbreak – which infected 42 people from 12 states – is the most comparable incident to the current outbreak.

    Health officials at the time scrambled to figure out what was making people sick, and though great strides have been made in the study of the virus, there are still many questions that surround it, said Craig Manning, with the Viral Special Pathogens Branch of the CDC.

    Cluster of deadly hantavirus cases worries officials

    "There was higher than normal rainfall during the summer of 1993 and that led to a dramatic increase in the population of deer mice, which resulted in more opportunities for humans to be exposed to the virus," Manning said.

    Since 1993, there have been 60 cases in California and 602 cases nationally, Manning said, describing the infections as "quite rare."

    About one-third of California cases have been fatal, in line with the virus' fatality rate which hovers at around 36 percent.

    'Fortunate to be alive': Girl, 7, contracts bubonic plague at Colorado campground

    Deer mice
    Manning said the recent outbreak has caused people to worry that a house- or field mouse may pose a threat to them.

    "The virus is very specific as to its preference for hosts," he said, adding that deer mice can be distinguished by their reddish-brown fur and white underbelly, and are smaller than field mice.

    Michael Thurston / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Since June, eight park visitors have contracted the virus, according to Yosemite officials.

    The deer mouse is one of four rodents which can carry the virus found in every state in the U.S. The white-footed mouse, cotton rat and rice rat can also host Hantavirus.

    Deer mice are the most common carriers on the virus, and about 12 percent of their population is positive for Hantavirus.

    California Department of Public Health officials issued the following advice for those going to wilderness areas where mice area present:

    • Avoid areas, especially indoors, where wild rodents are likely to have been present.
    • Keep food in tightly sealed containers and store away from rodents.
    • Keep rodents out of buildings by removing stacked wood, rubbish piles, and discarded junk from around homes and sealing any holes where rodents could enter.
    • If you can clean your sleeping or living area, open windows to air out the areas for at least two hours before entering. Take care not to stir up dust. Wear plastic gloves and spray areas contaminated with rodent droppings and urine with a 10% bleach solution or other household disinfectants and wait at least 15 minutes before cleaning the area. Place the waste in double plastic bags, each tightly sealed, and discard in the trash. Wash hands thoroughly afterward - Do not touch or handle live rodents and wear gloves when handling dead rodents. Spray dead rodents with a disinfectant and dispose of in the same way as droppings. Wash hands thoroughly after handling dead rodents.
    • If there are large numbers of rodents in a home or other buildings, contact a pest control service to remove them.

    More information is available at the CDC website's page on the hantavirus.

    NBCLosAngeles.com and Reuters contributed to this report.

  • CDC: 10,000 at risk of hantavirus in Yosemite outbreak

    Ben Margot / AP

    At least five hantavirus infections have been linked to the tent cabins in Yosemite's Curry Village.

    By NBC News services

    About 10,000 people who stayed in tent cabins at Yosemite National Park over the summer may be at risk for hantavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday in a health advisory. 

    "People who stayed in the tents between June 10 and Aug. 24 may be at risk of developing (hantavirus) in the next six weeks," the CDC said in the release.

    Earlier, two more Yosemite National Park visitors were found with a mouse-borne virus blamed for the deaths of two people, bringing the total number of infections to six, state health officials said.

    The new discoveries were made during the agency's investigation into cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome at the famed park, California Department of Public Health Anita Gore spokeswoman said.

    The infections spurred park officials to close 91 tent cabins at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, where five of the six infections occurred. Gore said one of the infected people may have been in another area of the park.

    "Our investigation is trying to determine which area of the park that person visited," she said.

    Over the past three weeks, two people have died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after staying in cabins at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley.

    Park officials said the double-walled design of the cabins that were closed Tuesday made it easy for mice to nest between the walls. The disease is carried in the feces, urine and saliva of deer mice and other rodents.

    The illness begins as flu-like symptoms, including including headache, fever, muscle ache, shortness of breath and cough. Initial symptoms may appear up to six weeks after exposure and can lead to severe breathing difficulties and death.  

    Although there is no cure for hantavirus, treatment after early detection through blood tests can save lives. The virus, which has never been known to be transmitted between humans, kills 38 percent of those it infects.

    "The earlier it's caught and supportive care is given, the better the survival rate," said Dr. Vicki Kramer, chief of vector-borne diseases at the state Public Health Department.

    Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said he made a habit of airing out his tent-cabin before occupying it as a precaution against possible virus-carrying dust particles when he stayed in Curry Village a few years ago.

    But even Chiu said he was surprised to learn that a hantavirus had killed two people and stricken others who slept in the same structures this summer.

    "It wasn't something even I had thought of at the time," Chiu, who studies hantavirus, told Reuters.

    Five of the people who fell ill are known to have stayed in the tent cabins in June or July, and warnings have gone out to visitors who stayed in Curry Village in June, July or August.

    The hantavirus outbreak occurred despite efforts by park officials to step up protection efforts last April. A 2010 report from the state health department warned park officials that rodent inspection efforts should be increased after a visitor to the Tuolumne Meadows area of the park fell ill.

    The new hantavirus policy, enacted April 25, was designed to provide a safe place, "free from recognized hazards that may cause serious physical harm or death."

    It came after the state report revealed that 18 percent of mice trapped for testing at various locations around the park were positive for hantavirus.

    "Inspections for rodent infestations and appropriate exclusion efforts, particularly for buildings where people sleep, should be enhanced," it said.

    Melanie Norall of Palo Alto, California, is monitoring her 8-year-old daughter's every sniffle. They stayed in a cabin outside Yosemite's north entrance at the end of July and awoke to mice scurrying and eating nuts out of their luggage.

    In 2009, the park installed the 91 new, higher-end cabins to replace some that had been closed or damaged after parts of Curry Village, which sits below the 3,000-foot Glacier Point promontory, were determined to be in a rock-fall hazard zone.

    The new cabins have canvas exteriors and drywall or plywood inside, with insulation in between. Park officials found this week when they tried to shore up some of the cabins that mice had built nests in the walls.

    The deer mice most prone to carrying the virus can squeeze through holes just one-quarter-inch in diameter. They are distinguished from solid-colored house mice by their white bellies and gray and brown bodies.

    The park sent warning emails and letters Wednesday to another 1,000 people who stayed in tent cabins, after officials found that a computer glitch had stopped the notices from going out with the original 1,700 warnings Monday. The warning says anyone with flu-like symptoms or respiratory problems should seek immediate medical attention.

    In 2011, half of the 24 U.S. hantavirus cases ended in death. But since 1993, when the virus first was identified, the average death rate is 36.39 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

    The vast majority of hantavirus victims are young and middle-age adults, Chiu said, probably because they are mostly likely to engage in activities that would readily expose them, such as chopping and carrying fire wood or sweeping the floors.

    "The message should not be you should stop camping. The important thing is general awareness of this disease and to avoid wild rodents in general," Chiu said.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

    More hantavirus news:

    Yosemite closes cabins after hantavirus deaths 

    Hantavirus cluster worries officials

  • 'Asking for prayers' for boy missing in Yosemite river

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

    By NbcLosAngeles.com

    A vigil was held Saturday evening to honor the memory of a 10-year-old boy from Yorba Linda, Calif., who died after being swept away in strong current at Yosemite National Park. His 6-year-old stepbrother, also taken by the turbulent Merced River, is still missing and presumed dead.

    The body of Andreas Adams, the older stepbrother, was recovered after the Wednesday accident at a popular hiking area below Vernal Fall. He was pulled from the water 150 yards downstream and could not be revived.

    Six-year-old Jacob Adams remained missing, and a search for him was expected to continue Saturday.

    See the original report  |  More from NBCLosAngeles.com

    The boys' mother, Char, and an older brother, Josh Reish, were injured and hospitalized in Fresno after they attempted a rescue, according to a press release issued by the family's Anaheim church.

    "We are asking for prayers for Jacob to be found soon, so the family can have some measure of closure and focus on beginning the healing,'' said pastor Bob Kopeny of Calvary Chapel East Anaheim in Anaheim Hills in the release.

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    Char Adams broke several bones in her foot and injured vertebrae in her back, Kopeny said in an interview.

    The church operates Sugar Pine Christian Camp in Oakhurst, just west of Yosemite National Park. About 100 people from the church had gone to Yosemite for an annual week of fellowship, church officials said.

    The Adams family group decided to spend the day in Yosemite Valley while the rest of the churchgoers went to nearby Bass Lake, according to church's Friday press release.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

    AP Photo / National Park Service

    Authorities searched a stretch of the Merced River for 6-year-old Jacob Adams after his older brother died when a current swept away his family.

    When the family was wading in the river, the stepbrothers were swept into the water down a steep boulder-strewn area that can be treacherous, park officials said.

    A fund has been set up for the family. To contribute, send a check to the church, at 5605 E. La Palma Ave, Anaheim, CA 92807, addressed to "Yosemite Family Relief.''

    The church's press release spelled the name of the boy who died as "Andreas," saying he went by "Andy." His name has also been reported as "Andres."

    NBC4's Janet Kwak contributed to this report.

    View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

     

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  • Yosemite closes more cabins, campsites due to danger from falling rocks

    Several campsites and cabins are closing down in areas thought to be at greatest risk for falling boulders. NBC's Brian Williams reports.


    By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

    Yosemite National Park is shuttering cabins, campsites and other structures in areas found to be at greatest risk of boulders crashing down.

    In a statement released Thursday, the park said it made the decision after a new study for the first time delineated "a rockfall hazard line" in the Yosemite Valley. 

    Eighteen more cabins will be off limits in Curry Village, where in 2008 the equivalent of 570 dump trucks of boulders from the 3,000-foot-tall Glacier Point hit 18 cabins and sent visitors fleeing for their lives. The park closed 233 of the 600 cabins in the village after the scare, and later relocated 125. The 18 closed Thursday will be relocated to safer areas as well.

    Other areas impacted include:

    • Two employee dorms and parts of three others will close, forcing the park to move 30 staff and worsening a critical housing shortage;
    • Eight campsites at Camp 4, a $5-a-night bargain near El Capitan used mainly by climbers, will be relocated nearby;
    • The LeConte Memorial, which includes a library and educational site, as well as the Curry Village Amphitheater will host fewer programs. 

    The park expected the decision would "reduce the overall risk ... by 95 percent."

    Park spokesman Kari Cobb emphasized to msnbc.com that the park is "fighting against" erroneous news reports suggesting that park areas are being closed off to hikers. It's the structures and campsites, not the recreational areas, being impacted, she said.

    National Park Service

    Rockfalls confirmed in the Yosemite Valley between 1857 and 2009.

    The greatest rockfall dangers are within 180 feet of the base of the cliffs, the study concluded, while adding that there is also a 10 percent chance a potentially deadly boulder will fall outside of the zone every 50 years. 

    The Yosemite Lodge and the Ahwahnee Hotel are not located in the danger zone. 

    Laser mapping was used to create the first detailed look at the valley's towering cliffs, which ultimately could lead to identifying which ones are most vulnerable to rockfalls.

    After the 2008 fall, the Associated Press reported that while Yosemite officials were aware of earlier studies showing Glacier Point was susceptible to rock falls they did not warn visitors and repaired and reused rock-battered cabins. 

    Cobb noted that damaged cabins had been repaired since the park's early years and that since 2006, when Yosemite's first geologist was hired, "we have never intentionally left open cabins or other high visitor use areas that we know to be susceptible to higher probability of rockfall."

    "It is impractical to put signs at every location that may pose a risk to visitors," she added. "We are surrounded by 3,000 foot granite cliffs that actively experience rockfall about once per week at different locations. The most we can do is educate visitors and provide them safe accommodations while they are staying here."

    Aug. 27, 2009: A tourist captured video of a rockslide in Yosemite National Park that forced the evacuation of the Ahwahnee Hotel. No injuries were reported.

    Rockfalls in and around Curry Village have killed two people and injured two dozen since 1996, the AP stated. Since officials began keeping track in 1857, 15 people have died throughout the valley and 85 have been injured from falling rocks. 

    More than 900 rockfalls have been documented at Yosemite, the park stated. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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