Tour bus crash victims suffer ‘basic blunt-force trauma injuries’
Five passengers pulled from the tour bus that overturned Thursday morning on the 210 Freeway in Irwindale suffered “pretty basic blunt-force trauma injuries,” a hospital physician said.
The passengers were among a group of eight who were determined to need immediate medical attention after they were removed from the bus, said Dr. Leo Rodriguez of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
In all, more than 50 people were injured when the chartered tour bus overturned on the eastbound 210 just past the 605 Freeway interchange at about 10 a.m.
PHOTOS: Charter bus overturns on 210 Freeway
The exact number of people injured fluctuated among the various agencies that responded to the crash, with one official putting the total at 55. The original estimate was closer to 30 people injured.
The injuries were described as being minor to moderate, although seven passengers were airlifted to local hospitals.
The bus was headed to San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in Highland after picking up passengers in Monterey Park and San Gabriel. Authorities said they did not know what caused the crash, citing the ongoing investigation.
But witnesses said they saw the bus brake hard before swerving across multiple lanes and ending up on its side. In the moments afterward, several onlookers rushed in to pull passengers from the broken-out windshield of the bus.
One of the witnesses described the passengers as “very quiet” and in a state of shock as they were pulled through the window one-by-one.
Rodriguez said the patients he treated ranged in age from 60 to 80.
At a news conference outside the hospital, he declined to go into detail about the injuries were, except to call them “pretty basic blunt-force trauma.”
“They were in pain from their injuries,” Rodriguez said.
The westbound lanes of the 210 Freeway were reopened at about 11 a.m., but as of 1 p.m., eastbound traffic was confined to the carpool lane as crews continued to clean up the scene.
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