Tour bus overturns
south of Naples
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July 25, 2003 |
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A tour bus
from Edmonton, Alberta, overturned this
morning at the south end of the Naples
Bridge with 54 people aboard.
Fortunately, passengers suffered only
minor injuries. The ambulance in the
background is on Shiloh Loop. |
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6:30 p.m. -- A Traxx tour bus from Edmonton, Alberta,
traveling north with 54 people aboard, drifted
off U.S.
95 and overturned at about 7:35 a.m. today at
the south end of the Naples Bridge, sending
several people to the hospital with minor
injuries.
Within moments, a heavy local emergency response
was underway, with Idaho State Police, Sheriffs
deputies, Boundary Volunteer Ambulance, Boundary
County Emergency Management, firefighters from
Paradise Valley and South Boundary Fire
Deparments, the Idaho Transportation Department and more on scene, quickly bringing
order to a chaotic scene.
Idaho State Police Corporal Kevin Bennett was
the investigating officer.
According to the Idaho State Police, the bus, a
1999 Prevost, was driven by Gang Want, 41, of
Calgary, Alberta, when the accident occurred.
The bus left the right side of the road, entered
the ditch, crossed Shiloh Loop, and went down a
steep embankment near milepost 497, narrowly
missing the toe of the bridge guardrail, before
tipping over on its right side and coming to
rest on several trees.
Wang, who was not injured, was cited for
inattentive driving.
After the crash, those aboard the bus, one of
whom told a responder that they were returning
home after having worked for a Habitat for
Humanity-like project in the Portland, Oregon,
area, passengers, mostly young people in their
20s and 30s, remained calm, helping firefighter,
EMTs and one another exit the bus.
A total of eight people suffered injuries, and
all were treated and released at Boundary
Community Hospital.
Two school buses were dispatched to the scene to
transport the uninjured to Boundary County
Middle School, where they awaited another tour bus
to be sent from Lethbridge, as well as recovery
of the bus they were traveling on so as to retrieve their passports and other
belongings.
With U.S. 95 shut down for much of the time, the
bus was recovered and the roadway cleared at
around 3 p.m., and those aboard the bus were
back on their way by about 4:30 p.m. |
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