A bus carrying 18 members of a North Carolina church crashed in Tennessee on Thursday. The bus was returning to North Carolina after the group participated in a three-day gathering of gospel singers and speakers. So far, eight bodies have been identified in a connection with the crash.
The bus collided with an SUV and a tractor-trailer. Troopers say that they are trying to investigate the accident but are having a hard time because of their inability to get through the wreckage. At least fourteen people were injured in the collision, and two have been reported in critical condition. The crash occurred about 30 miles east of Knoxville.
So far, researchers have determined that the left tire of the bus malfunctioned, sending the vehicles across the median where it hit a Chevrolet Tahoe van. It then slammed into an 18-wheeler truck. Sadly, all the members on the bus were elderly. The 18 members of Front Street Baptists Church in Statesville, North Carolina were on their way back from the 17th annual Fall Jubilee in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
At least six individuals in the bus, the driver of the big-rig, and one of the people in the Tahoe have all been declared dead in the accident. The church that the passengers attend has about 375 members, and the congregation is praying feverishly for the families of these loved ones.
The National Transportation Safety Board says that they don't intend to send anyone to investigate the crash because of the government shutdown that has limited the amount of investigations that they can perform at present. The NTSB says that the board would have responded under normal conditions but all investigators have currently been furloughed.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol says that may investigators from this team have not been able to identify victims because of the conditions of the bodies. The investigators say that they will need to get dental records for all passengers in order to complete their work and determine which individuals are unaccounted for.
The investigators say that the crash was horrific and left the corpses in a shocking state. Investigators are not even certain who the bus driver was at present. The tractor trailer that was also involved in the crash was carrying a load of paper towels which were burned in the accident.
The bus involved in the crash was equipped with seatbelts, but it is unclear how many of the passengers were wearing them at the time of the collision, A trooper also noted that the bus slid through the cable-rail in the median on the highway because the median was not strong enough to stop the vehicle. Investigators say that a bus this large is typically able to break through any median, so the city cannot be held liable for this factor of the accident.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, more than 700 million passengers ride on buses annually. This includes private charter buses and school buses. More buses were registered in 2010 than any other time in the past three decades. Accident statistics from 2010 show that there were already 245 fatal crashes involving buses and 44 bus occupants died in those crashes.
The National Transportation Safety Board projections suggested that there would be approximately 54 fatalities from bus accidents that year. Bus accidents are serious, and if you are harmed in a bus accident or if your loved one passes away in a bus accident, then you need to contact a local personal injury attorney promptly to litigate. You can see compensation from the bus company or the driver if he or she is liable for the accident which occurred.