Tour Bus Hits Pickup—6 Passengers Killed

March 5, 2010 (by Horatio Algren) According to reports rescue crews responded to an early morning tour bus accident that killed six passengers south of Phoenix.
According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety the tour bus accident occurred at approximately 5:30 a.m. near Sacaton, Arizona on the Gila River Indian Reservation. The bus struck a pickup, which caused it to rollover on the interstate early Friday morning.

The rollover cause the roof of the bus to crush and windows to breakout, with one being found as far as 25 yards from the bus in the accident that occurred in the westbound lanes of Interstate 10.

There were six passengers; two men and four women thrown approximately 10 yards from the bus, according to DPS spokesman Bart Graves that were fatally injured. The early reports stated the tour bus had been involved in an accident with a semi truck, however the vehicle involved was a pickup truck. The bus carrying 22 passengers en-route from near Durango Mexico and entering the United States in El Paso, Texas veered into the center median after striking the pickup truck.

The driver over corrected causing the vehicle to rollover one time and then land on its wheels. Rescue crews broke bus windows to reach passengers that were trapped on the bus after the crash, the injured were treated at a triage that was setup on the interstate prior to being transported by ambulance or helicopter to the hospital.

Six people were listed in critical condition with life threatening injuries according to Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix were eight of the injured people were taken. The injuries according to hospital spokesman Michael Murphy included broken spines, head injuries and broken pelvises.

The bus driver and an 11 year old boy were among the injured patients at Maricopa Medical Center and were listed in guarded condition with non-life threatening injuries.

The accident remains under investigation according to police and also caused a second accident when another pickup slowed and was struck by a sedan sending one person from that accident to the hospital with injuries. The accident occurred on I-10 at mile marker 173, with traffic being rerouted to State Route 587.