4 dead and dozens injured as Southern California-based tour bus crashes in Utah

Four people died after a tour bus carrying them and other visitors from China crashed, rolling onto a guardrail and leaving carnage and debris in its wake on a highway running through the red-rock landscape of southern Utah.

To Robert Driedonks, who heard the crash from the wildlife museum he owns nearby, it sounded like “a bomb going off.” He ran to the scene marked by carnage and debris, rushing to check pulses and help the terrified people as best he could, though they were far from home and couldn’t understand his words.

“All I could do is see which people needed helped help the most,” he said. One devastated man was cradling the body of his wife, and Driedonks wrapped his arms around them both, trying to bring him a little comfort until paramedics arrived.

All 31 people on board were hurt, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Street said. Twelve remained hospitalized Saturday, five of them in critical condition. The death toll could rise, Street said.

Most were in St. George, where local Mandarin speakers were gathering to translate as well as find clothes and shoes for the people left with nothing when the crash threw their suitcases into the desert, said De He, a school district administrator coordinating the effort.

The tour bus had come up from Las Vegas on Friday morning, the passengers stopping to gaze at the sweeping canyons of Zion National Park before heading toward the otherworldly red-rock landscape of Bryce National Park, He said. Most of the tourists are older adults, He said.

As is common in tour buses, not everyone was wearing a seat belt when the bus from a tour company based in Southern California rolled, crushing its roof and ramming the guardrail’s vertical posts into the cab, Street said.

The crash happened near a highway rest stop a few miles from Bryce Canyon National Park, an otherworldly landscape of narrow red-rock spires. The top of the white bus could be seen smashed inward and one side was peeling away as the vehicle came to rest mostly off the side of the road against a sign for restrooms.

Authorities believe the driver swerved on the way to the park on Friday morning, but when he yanked the steering wheel to put the bus back onto the road, the momentum sent the bus into a rollover crash.

The driver, an American citizen, survived and was talking with investigators, Street said. He didn’t appear to be intoxicated, but authorities were still investigating his condition as well as any possible mechanical problems, he said.

There was some wind, but it was not strong enough to cause problems, Street said.

The crash left the top of the bus smashed in and one side peeling away as the vehicle came to rest mostly off the side of the road against a sign for restrooms.

The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team to investigate.

The wrecked bus on State Route 12 near Bryce Canyon National Park.

(Deseret News)

The company listed on the bus was America Shengjia Inc. Utah business records indicate it is based in Monterey Park. A woman answering the phone there did not have immediate comment.

The injured were sent to three hospitals. Intermountain Garfield Memorial Hospital said it received 17 patients, including three in critical condition and 11 in serious condition.

Patients also were taken to Cedar City and St. George hospitals.

Millions of people visit Utah’s five national parks every year. Last year, about 87,000 people from China visited the state, making them the fastest-growing group of Utah tourists, according to state data.

More than half of visitors from China travel on tour buses, said Vicki Varela, managing director of Utah Office of Tourism.

The Chinese Embassy tweeted that it was saddened to hear about the crash and that it was sending staff to help the victims.

Bryce Canyon, about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City, draws more than 2 million visitors a year.

“You have a group from China who have worked hard to come to the states, got the visa and everything they needed, excited about it, and for a tragedy like this to happen it just makes it all the more tragic,” Street said.