[TheKingdom2000]

Vancouver-bound tour bus crashes in Oregon, killing nine people | World | News | National Post (http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/30/vancouver-bound-tour-bus-crashes-in-oregon-killing-nine-people-and-injuring-at-least-20-others/)


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Article here:

PENDLETON, Ore. — RCMP in British Columbia were asked Sunday to help notify the relatives of people on a Vancouver-bound tour bus that crashed in Oregon Sunday morning, killing nine people.

Police were asked to notify relatives in the Vancouver-area, said RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen.

“Oregon state police has requested our assistance in regards to that tragic crash in their jurisdiction and requested that we assist in some of the next of kin notifications that may need to be done here in the Lower Mainland or even outside the Lower Mainland,” said Thiessen in an interview.

“So as we do them, those notifications, we will be supporting those families that are affected and will be providing information back to the Oregon State Police in regards to those next of kin notifications.”

Thiessen declined to answer questions about the nationalities of the victims.

Police say the tour bus was owned by a Vancouver company called Mi Joo Tour & Travel and had been headed to Vancouver from Las Vegas with 40 people on board.

It lost control around 10:30 a.m. on snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon. Oregon State Police said it crashed through a guardrail and plunged about 30 metres down a steep embankment.

The bus landed upright at the bottom of the snowy slope, with little or no debris visible around the crash site.

More than a dozen rescue workers descended the hill and used ropes to help retrieve people from the wreckage in freezing weather. The bus driver was among the survivors, but had not yet spoken to police because of the severity of the injuries the driver had suffered.

St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton treated 26 people from the accident, said hospital spokesman Larry Blanc. Five of those treated at St. Anthony were transported to other facilities.

Blanc told the Oregonian the hospital brought in additional staff to handle the rush of patients and did a lot of X-ray imaging.

He told CTV News that seven of the patients admitted to St. Anthony Hospital had been discharged into the care of the Red Cross in Pendleton.

Blanc said those still at St. Anthony’s were in stabled condition, including one patient who was being treated in intensive care for serious injuries. Those most critically injured, he said, were airlifted to medical facilities in Portland, Oregon and Tri-Cities, Washington.
Lt. Greg Hastings said the bus crashed along the west end of the Blue Mountains, and west of an area called Deadman Pass. The area is so dangerous the state transportation department published specific warnings for truck drivers, advising it had “some of the most changeable and severe weather conditions in the Northwest” and can lead to slick conditions and poor visibility.

The East Oregonian said it spoke with two South Korean passengers, ages 16 and 17. Both said through a translator that they were seated near the rear of the bus when it swerved a few times, hit the guardrail and flipped. They described breaking glass and seeing passengers pinned by their seats as the bus slid down the hill. Both said that they feared for their lives.

The paper said that the teens, one of whom injured a knee and the other suffered a broken collarbone, were staying at a hotel arranged by the Red Cross.

I-84 is a major east-west highway through Oregon that follows the Columbia River Gorge.

A bus safety website run by the U.S. Department of Transportation said Mi Joo Tour & Travel has six buses, none of which have been involved in any accidents in at least the past two years.

The bus crash was the second fatal accident on the same highway in Oregon on Sunday. A 69-year-old man died in a rollover accident about 30 miles west of the area where the bus crashed.

A spokesman for the American Bus Association said buses carry more than 700 million passengers a year in the United States.

“The industry as a whole is a very safe industry,” said Dan Ronan of the Washington, D.C.,-based group. “There are only a handful of accidents every year. Comparatively speaking, we’re the safest form of surface transportation.”

The bus crash comes more than two months after another chartered tour bus in October veered off a highway in northern Arizona, killing the driver and injuring dozens of passengers who were mostly tourists from Asia and Europe. Authorities say the driver likely had a medical episode.

[donjalapeno]

must have been scary as fuck to be a passenger on the bus, especially if they were sleeping when it happend.

[Graeme S]

Shit. That company caters a great deal to the international student crown (the Koreans mainly) and the resident Korean community.

I have a bad feeling that I'm going to see some very sad posts on my Facebook wall soon.

[Ver.Mitsubishi]

Fucking Americans

[milkStar]

rip

[StylinRed]

rip


cbc was just speaking to a fireman who was one of the first on scene and he says most of the people had been ejected from the bus :/


cbc went to mi-joo travel but they were closed; a lady and her son had just shown up to try and go to the office and they were interviewed, the lady says that she heard 9 people had died and she was very sad... because they were all korean.... :suspicious:

[Graeme S]

rip


cbc was just speaking to a fireman who was one of the first on scene and he says most of the people had been ejected from the bus :/


cbc went to mi-joo travel but they were closed; a lady and her son had just shown up to try and go to the office and they were interviewed, the lady says that she heard 9 people had died and she was very sad... because they were all korean.... :suspicious:
I hate to say it but it's kind of a cultural thing. They're not being dicks or anything, it's just...yeah. Hard to explain.

[noclue]

I hate to say it but it's kind of a cultural thing. They're not being dicks or anything, it's just...yeah. Hard to explain.

To expand:
It's kinda like there's only 70million Koreans (North + South + expats) worldwide so its sad when they lose their numbers.

It's also why they're extremely full of pride when a Korean win an olympic event, scientific breakthrough, samsung etc

I think that tour company is going to go under lol

[spyker]

Fucking Americans

And you're a fucking moron.

[Hondaracer]

Ban tour busses!
Posted via RS Mobile

[bloodline129]

RIP to the fallen, and wish their families all the best to make it through these hard times.

[CharlieH]

holy shit, RIP

[MeowMeow]

Edit: oops wrong tour agency

But anyways rip. Sad to hear news like this on new years eve :(
Posted via RS Mobile

[zx7rrrr]

they probably weren't wearing seat belts
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[hal0g0dv2]

ouch rip

[ImportPsycho]

10 years ago, I once worked at Korean travel agency in Burnaby.
buses they use for Rockey mountain and west cost tours are SHT!
Always had a bus broken down or stuck in snow, in the middle of no where

Also, most of passengers are visitors from korea, who pays for their medical?
I'm sure these low price no margin bus tour packages dont include insurance.

[Horditruck]

Wow, suck when something like this happens. R.I.P

[twitchyzero]

they probably weren't wearing seat belts
Posted via RS Mobile

I don't ever recall a bus (coach...transit etc) having seatbelts

[StylinRed]

I've only been on a coach buses during elementary school field trips; can't recall perfectly but I had thought there were seat belts on them too

that's fucked up if there aren't; had assumed the same as zx7rrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Akinari]

I haven't been on a single bus that is equipped with seatbelts, except for that fold-out front seat beside the stairwell that has one on some coach buses.

[124Y]

RIP. Saw it on the newspaper last night. :(

[too_slow]

10 years ago, I once worked at Korean travel agency in Burnaby.
buses they use for Rockey mountain and west cost tours are SHT!
Always had a bus broken down or stuck in snow, in the middle of no where

Also, most of passengers are visitors from korea, who pays for their medical?
I'm sure these low price no margin bus tour packages dont include insurance.


Whoever's in the ICU will fall right back into a coma after seeing the medical bills. :(

[StylinRed]

travel insurance is only around $30 and a lot of insurance plans and credit cards include it as well; i would hope they're all covered


as for Mijoo's bus safety/quality, apparently WA state has had them rated as "satisfactory"

[E.D.C.5]

RIP!

[bcedhk]

Is probably one of those cases where tour bus company's cheap out/skip on maintenance and check ups on their tours buses to cut cost down.

Not a bus expert, but from the image, that bus looks old and should of been decommissioned.

Bad luck for the company, with Koreans/Asian, once a company gets into such accident, they won't stay in business much longer unless they do something dramatic to improve it.

[noclue]

won't ICBC pay out the injuries/med bills?

I heard the owners skipped town. most likely something shady with the bus/business that will led to criminal negligence.

[Graeme S]

won't ICBC pay out the injuries/med bills?

I heard the owners skipped town. most likely something shady with the bus/business that will led to criminal negligence.
If vehicle insurance covered all medical bills, people wouldn't have to chase ICBC for things like Physio and the like. Also remember that those kinds of coverage would be optional for the bus lines. Why do you think your travel agent always tries to sell you separate medical insurance?

[MeowMeow]

most Korean/Asian agencies offer hella cheap tours
Which usually means that they don't have insurance
Iirc one of the more well known Korean agency always emphasizes on their ad how they are legally insured because most agencies aren't
kinda have a feeling Mi Joo most likely didn't since they're not that big.
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[TypeRNammer]

Oregon Ford dealer offering free rides home to crash victims | News1130 (http://www.news1130.com/2013/01/01/oregon-ford-dealer-offering-free-rides-home-to-crash-victims/)


Oregon Ford dealer offering free rides home to crash victims
Some passengers are too frightened to get on board a bus




LA GRANDE, OR (NEWS1130) – Some of the injured passengers aboard the Vancouver-based bus that crashed in northeastern Oregon have their passports and are ready to head back home.But some of them are too afraid to get back on a bus.

A car dealership located about 25 miles from the crash site is stepping up and offering free rides.

Chris Huxoll with Legacy Ford Lincoln in La Grande, Oregon, says staff at the dealership were shaken by what happened and wanted to help.

That’s why they decided to give back by supplying half a dozen sport utility vehicles complete with drivers.

“Obviously after you’ve been in a bus accident, we weren’t sure how they were going to get all those people back, and climbing on a bus wouldn’t be ideal for most of them, probably cause a traumatic situation for most of them,” explains Huxoll.

The company is working with the Red Cross to arrange the rides.

“We want to make sure we can help these people where they’re going and to use our fleet of cars and use our fleet of drivers to try and help these people get home in a safe fashion,” says Huxoll.

In the next few days, about half a dozen people will be making the trips northbound stopping in places all over Washington State and the Lower Mainland.

“We’re told some of them need to go to Lynnwood, Seattle, Tacoma and all the way up to Canada,” he adds.

[inv4zn]

^PR intentions aside, that's a very cool thing to do.

[dinosaur]

Bus company in fatal Oregon crash banned from U.S. - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/travel/bus-company-banned/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)

[vafanculo]

Bus company in fatal Oregon crash banned from U.S. - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/travel/bus-company-banned/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)


Won't really matter. Their business is pretty much shot. All they gotta do is open up a new company under a different name/ relatives name.
Posted via RS Mobile

[StylinRed]

they're already facing lawsuits too

[inv4zn]

Apparently the driver worked 100 hours during the 8 days of the trip.

My parents went to the Rockies with a similar Korean tour company in the summer...:badpokerface:

[Yodamaster]

I'm amazed that people aren't crying out for seat belts to be mandatory on buses, everybody knows that the roof of those might as well be made of tinfoil.

We have regulations up the ass on everything but something that has proven to be deadly almost every single time in the event of a rollover. I've always refrained from taking trips on those things if I could, they are incredibly dangerous.

It amazes me how a safety issue so obvious could be overlooked for all these years, we actually have something that we all can agree is hazardous, and yet, nothing has been done.

[dangonay]

I'm amazed that people aren't crying out for seat belts to be mandatory on buses, everybody knows that the roof of those might as well be made of tinfoil.

Becauses bus fatalities are rare. Last year there were 32,000 motor vehicle fatalities in the US, or about 88 per day. I couldn't find the bus figures for last year, but from 2000-2009 bus fatalities ranged from a low of 3 to a high of 60 deaths per year.

Even in a bad year, there are more people killed in cars in a single day than in buses for the entire year. Buses are extremely safe which is part of the reason these accidents make the news when they happen.

[Gumby]

Becauses bus fatalities are rare. Last year there were 32,000 motor vehicle fatalities in the US, or about 88 per day. I couldn't find the bus figures for last year, but from 2000-2009 bus fatalities ranged from a low of 3 to a high of 60 deaths per year.

Even in a bad year, there are more people killed in cars in a single day than in buses for the entire year. Buses are extremely safe which is part of the reason these accidents make the news when they happen.
I can accept that in a bus vs car crash, bus wins. However, I find it hard to accept your statement of "buses are extremely safe" when buses don't have seat belts...

[dangonay]

^ Buses are extremely safe in that fatalities are low given the numbers of passengers they carry every year. Same with airplanes. But when a plane crashes it's also a big deal because it's a large loss of life in a single incident.

Why spend money on seat belts when they probably wouldn't make a difference anyway? So when the roof collapses you're held in place to make sure you get crushed? You could take an airplane and fill it with airbags, special seats and all sorts of equipment and if the plane crashes doing 500 MPH is it really going to make any difference?

It simply comes down to cost vs benefit.

[Yodamaster]

^ Buses are extremely safe in that fatalities are low given the numbers of passengers they carry every year. Same with airplanes. But when a plane crashes it's also a big deal because it's a large loss of life in a single incident.

Why spend money on seat belts when they probably wouldn't make a difference anyway? So when the roof collapses you're held in place to make sure you get crushed? You could take an airplane and fill it with airbags, special seats and all sorts of equipment and if the plane crashes doing 500 MPH is it really going to make any difference?

It simply comes down to cost vs benefit.


Planes and buses are completely different, comparing the advantages of safety equipment between the two is simply not logical.

A simple lap belt could suffice in preventing injuries resulting from partial or full ejection from seats. I would rather be held in by a lap belt than be flung around the bus breaking limbs.

[twitchyzero]

Whenever a bus flips ove death always seem inevitable...seat belts are cheap in the grand scheme of things...save some lives and your company's rep in accidents.

Apparently the driver worked 100 hours during the 8 days of the trip.


There are laws against a certain limit of overtime hours for drivers in Canada/US right? Like ones where trans-continental semitruck drivers have to follow as well. I know in Asia they do pull crazy hours like that.

[dangonay]

Planes and buses are completely different, comparing the advantages of safety equipment between the two is simply not logical.

A simple lap belt could suffice in preventing injuries resulting from partial or full ejection from seats. I would rather be held in by a lap belt than be flung around the bus breaking limbs.

Buses and airplanes are directly comparable. They both have very low figures for deaths vs the number of passengers they carry (far safer than automobiles). They both achieve this figure by having a low accident rate and by the fact they carry a lot of passengers per trip.

It's simply not feasible or practical to spend billions on safety equipment that will have a very small impact on actual passenger safety.

This is the same as screaming about people having guns after some whacko goes on a killing spree. It's over-reacting. There's no need to increase safety on buses when they're already statistically very safe.

[Yodamaster]

Buses and airplanes are directly comparable. They both have very low figures for deaths vs the number of passengers they carry (far safer than automobiles). They both achieve this figure by having a low accident rate and by the fact they carry a lot of passengers per trip.

It's simply not feasible or practical to spend billions on safety equipment that will have a very small impact on actual passenger safety.

This is the same as screaming about people having guns after some whacko goes on a killing spree. It's over-reacting. There's no need to increase safety on buses when they're already statistically very safe.

Buses don't cruise at five hundred miles per hour, thousands of feet in the air.

Point is, everybody benefits from a seat belt in an accident, no matter how you shake it. 100% of the people on every bus in America are subject to injuries because of the lack of seat belts.

So what you're saying is, even though I don't die on a bus, me flying around the cabin space is fine, because seat belts cost too much?


And your comparison between bus safety and gun rights is... interesting. But since you went there, I'll play along.

Adding seat belts to a bus is, if anything, equivalent to safeties on firearms. Both are expensive to include in the systems in question (in large numbers), and the lack of either can result in injury or death.

Even if it's more expensive to engineer a safety into a firearm, I want it to be done. The same sentiment goes for buses, I would rather be strapped in with a seat belt around my lap.

[corollagtSr5]

Maybe buses that do long distances, travelling at high speeds. Not these buses in the city where they already have the right of way. City buses are like MOVE BITCH, GET OUT THE WAY. Like A Bus-LUDACRIS STYLE - YouTube