| A Greyhound bus bound for Denver overturns on I-70. |
A Greyhound bus enroute from Las Vegas to Denver, tipped over on I-70 on the morning of March 9. At 8:33 a.m., an anonymous call was received at the Emery County Sheriff’s Officer reporting the bus accident. The caller was not sure how many, but reported that there were multiple injuries.
Green River EMTs and ambulances were the first to be called to the scene, followed shortly by Emery’s emergency personnel. Castle Dale and Ferron EMTs and ambulances were also called out due to the possible number of injuries that could be involved in an accident of this size. Ambulances also came from Grand County.
The bus had 32 passengers on board when it left Las Vegas at 1 a.m. and made a stop in Beaver at around 5 a.m. As the bus was heading for Green River, the driver either nodded off or blacked out. The bus left the roadway and onto the dirt barrow pit, which roused the driver. As the bus came back onto the roadway at near freeway speed, the driver then overcorrected and the bus flipped sideways and tipped over onto its right side, sliding for approximately 120 feet, coming to a stop across both eastbound lanes.
One of the injured was also transported by fixed wing aircraft to St. Mary’s. Thirteen injured travelers were taken to Castleview Hospital in Price. The Green River Clinic and St. Mary’s Hospital received the other nine injured passengers. A second Greyhound bus was dispatched from Green River to transport those not injured in the rollover to Grand Junction.
Four people were transported by helicopter, one was flown by fixed wing aircraft, and the remaining, were transported by ambulance.
Sgt. Martin Wilson, Emery County’s local emergency planning coordinator, said, “Every one of the seven ambulances and 21 EMTs that responded to this accident did an excellent job. Diane Chandler of Green River, put together the triage system and it worked great.
“Typically, at an accident site, everyone, even those who think they are uninjured, are running on adrenaline. When we first arrived, many of the passengers said they were fine, but when the adrenaline began to wear off, some additional injuries surfaced.
“In each ambulance, there were two injured on backboards, two-three of the less severely injured, and the EMTs. In total, we transported 22 injured people to medical centers,” said Wilson.
Most of the injured suffered broken bones, and were treated and released.