Sierra Bus Crash Claims 20th Fatality; 14 Remain in Hospitals

A 20th victim has died of injuries suffered when a Starline Sightseeing Tours bus skidded out of control on U.S. 395 and plunged into the Walker River 20 miles north of Bridgeport, Calif., in Mono County, officials said Wednesday.

Another 14 passengers remain hospitalized in Reno, Carson City and Inglewood, several in critical condition. Seven others, including bus driver Ernst A. Klimeck, have been released from hospitals.

The latest victim to succumb was Grace Thrasher, 74, of Santa Monica, who died late Tuesday in the Carson-Tahoe Hospital, officials there reported. Mrs. Thrasher and 39 other passengers were returning home after a four-day gambling excursion to Lake Tahoe and Reno when the accident Friday morning.

Most of the passengers lived in the Santa Monica Christian Towers, an apartment complex near Wilshire Boulevard and 6th Street.

In addition to Mrs. Thrasher, the coroner has released the names of eight more who died in the wreck: Mary E. McCauley, 78; Mary Alice Krimball, 78; Francis Flanick, 80; Marie Garant, 79; Marie Laurenza Boudreault, 70; Marguerite Phillips, 76, and June Kirkpatrick, age unknown, and Alma Ziegler, age unknown, all of Santa Monica.

One person is missing and presumed drowned in the Walker River, deep within the twisting canyon near the California-Nevada border, the coroner reported. That victim has not been identified.

The hospitalized include Vivian Guthrie, 69, transferred in stable condition to Centinela Hospital, Inglewood. At Washoe Medical Center in Reno are Dr. Richard Butler, 79; Gifford Thrasher, 72; Lawrence Ward, 73; Cecil Dryer, 77; Dorothy Krimball, 83, all in stable condition, and Helen Morgan, 82, in serious condition.

In St. Mary’s Hospital, Reno, are Warren Biscaluz, 68, in serious but stable condition; Ruth Hulderman, 86, in critical but stable condition, and Richard Hassell, 86, who is in the cardiac-care unit in serious condition.

Patients remaining in the Carson-Tahoe Hospital in Carson City include Margaret Goodrick, 74; Daniel Goodrick, 74, and Dorothy Ward, 74, all in satisfactory condition. Karen Patterson, 74, is in the same hospital’s intensive-care unit in serious condition, the hospital reported.