5 Die as Boulder Shears Off Front of Greyhound Bus
A large boulder tumbled onto a roadway after a thunderstorm and sheared off the front of a Greyhound bus, killing five people and injuring 14, authorities said today.
“I felt an impact . . . a big concussion and (what sounded like) a loud explosion, kind of deafening,” said Sean Jones, one of two passengers who escaped injury. “All of a sudden, I felt debris coming at us. A bright light flashed, like sparks and electricity in the front end of the bus.”
The bus, bound from Denver to Albuquerque with 20 passengers and a driver aboard, was struck on New Mexico 68 late Monday night, state police said.
The accident occurred in a mountainous area about 50 miles north of Santa Fe, where the highway parallels the Rio Embudo near the point where that river meets the Rio Grande.
Satwant Khalsa, deputy state medical investigator, said all five of the dead were adults. He said one of the victims was from India and another from Japan.
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