Of note:
Two accidents, one likely cause; lame buses and/or roads

Ob Question:
How can any human conscionably let 60 kids pile into a bus meant to hold 30?

Ob incredulous question:
Signs? Guard Rails? Tire spikes?

NEW DELHI - Six people were killed and 30 injured when a bus on which they were travelling overturned in the eastern Indian state of Bihar on Wednesday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

The accident happened in the Purnea district, about 280 km (175 miles) east of the state capital, Patna. PTI said the driver lost control of the vehicle, but gave no further details. The incident followed Tuesday's disaster in which at least 27 schoolchildren drowned after their bus plunged into a river on the outskirts of New Delhi.

About 60 children were also injured in the incident when the bus, which was packed to almost twice its capacity, apparently skidded on rubble and crashed through the barrier of a bridge some 10 metres (33 feet) into the Yamuna river.
Reuters

   KATHMANDU, June 22 - At least 36 people were missing after a passenger bus plunged into a river in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal on Monday, officials said. The bus was headed to Birjung in central Nepal from the west Nepali town of Pokhara when it shot of the road and fell into the Marswyangdi river at

Aanbu Khaireni, about 114 km (71 miles) west of Kathmandu, they said. "Six people who jumped off the bus have been admitted to hospital," Damodar Pant, Tanahun district administrative officer said. Aanbu Khaireni is in Tanahun district.

It was not clear how many passengers were on the bus.

Pant told Reuters that at least 42 people had boarded the bus at Pokhara but one rescuer said up to 50 may have been inside. State radio, however, said 17 were missing.
Reuters

ST-JOSEPH-DE-LA-RIVE, Quebec (CNN) -- A bus carrying senior citizens on a Thanksgiving Day outing missed a curve and plunged into a ravine in central Quebec Monday, killing 43 people, police said.

The bus crashed through a guard rail on a rural highway and plummeted 9 meters (30 feet) to the bottom of a steep hill, Gerard Carrier of Quebec Provincial Police headquarters told CNN.

"The driver did not make the curve," he said. Investigators are looking at brake failure as the possible cause of the accident. The death toll reportedly makes this the worst highway accident in Canadian history.

The bus was carrying 48 people, police said, and had been on an excursion to view the changing of the seasons. The passengers belonged to a senior citizens club in the Beauce region, near Quebec City. They had been celebrating Canada's Thanksgiving holiday on the trip.

Conditions on the road were clear, and the weather in the area was sunny and dry.

Carrier said the five injured people were treated at Bay St. Paul Hospital about 10 miles from the crash site. The bus slid off the road about 2 p.m., 96 kilometers (60 miles) from Quebec City along the St. Lawrence River. It was owned by the Mercier charter bus company in Pont Briant, near Quebec City. Company officials could not be reached for comment.

A bus plunged off the road at the same spot in 1974, police said, killing 13.

LIMA, Peru – A bus plunged into a river in the Andean highlands, killing 30 passengers, in the latest in a string of accidents in Peru, officials said Monday.

Only two people, one a 13-year-old schoolboy, survived Sunday's accident,civil defense officials told Reuters. They broke windows and swam to safety in the rain-swollen Mantaro river between the towns of La Oroya and Huancayo.

The other survivor, Eduardo Pichardo, 37, told reporters he was sleeping when the bus went off the road, tumbled down a 65-foot hillside and fell into a 33foot deep stretch of river. "The loud screaming of the women woke me up. I could see that the bus was starting to fall down a bank. I reacted quickly," said Pichardo, who broke a window with his hands and scrambled out as the bus was sinking.

Rescuers said they believed the bus, belonging to the local Carhuamayocompany, was speeding. The accident, in LLocllapampa district, 125 miles east of Lima, took place at the spot where another bus slid off the road and fell into the river Feb. 17, killing 28 people.

Peru also suffered its worst air disaster last Thursday when a Boeing 737 airliner crashed into a hillside killing all 123 passengers and crew. And a tidal wave struck the northern coast Feb. 21, killing at least a dozen fishermen.

Civil defense officials said they had recovered the bodies of seven adults and four children from Sunday's bus crash by early Monday. Rescuers were searching for the bus and the rest of the bodies, which were swept down river.

Huancayo Civil Defense official Carlos Palomino said authorities had been negligent in not erecting barriers or putting up warning signs at the curve where the bus crashed.

"How is it possible that after the last accident in the same place they have not taken any precautions? he asked"

March 4, 1996

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 23 (Reuter) - A bus plunged down a steep embankment in southeastern Brazil on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring around 50, a fire brigade spokesman said.

Firemen had recovered one body and about 50 injured passengers from the crash near the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte. Rescue work was hampered by heavy rain and mud.

The spokesman said the exact cause of the accident was not yet known, but Globo television news reported that the bus swerved out of control at a curve on a wet road.
Reuters

NEW DELHI, May 2 - At least 32 people were killed on Friday when a bus toppled into a ravine at a southern Indian hill resort, the Press Trust of India said.

The news agency said the bus carrying 57 tourists fell into a 100-metre-deep (109-yard) gorge at Kodaikanal, a popular resort town, while travelling to the temple-studded town of Palani in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Local government officials were supervising relief and rescue operations in the area, the news agency said. It gave no other details.

A moment later, Johnson’s life was as action-filled as a scene from the martial arts star’s flicks: the bus skidded along the winding mountain road and flipped Friday morning, then slid 40 feet down an embankment on 3,000-foot Droop Mountain.

“I saw the guardrail, and the next thing I knew we were upside down,” Johnson said.The 48 people aboard the bus were taken to two hospitals and authorities said 22 required treatment for injuries. No one was killed.

Tom Dunbrack, the Pocahontas County emergency services director, said when officials arrived, some students already had climbed to safety. Rescue workers tied ropes to the guardrail and rappelled down to the bus. They lifted about a dozen students up in baskets and rescued two with extraction devices.Dunbrack described most injuries as cuts, scrapes, bumps and bruises. “There were two that we considered very, very serious,” he added. “A few head injuries.”

The bus crashed along US 219, which had received about 2 inches of snow overnight, said State Police Sgt. J.K. Riffle in Marlinton.

“The bus hit some ice,” Riffle said. “It was going down the mountain and just slid over the bank.”Passengers, all University of Florida students from Gainesville, Fla., said the bus was headed to Snowshoe, about 180 miles west of Washington, D.C. They questioned the speed at which the driver maneuvered the mountain road.

“It seemed like we were going too fast to be in control,” Johnson said. He added that, at one point, he advised the driver there was “no need to hurry.”

The bus started slipping, then went over the hill, said passenger Nelson Valdez.“I felt he was going too fast, but you believe that they know what they’re doing,” he said. Scott Carson, director of operations West Virginia Coach, a charter bus company based in Huntington, questioned the route taken by the bus. He said W.Va. 92, about 10 miles east of US 219, is bus drivers’ preferred route to Snowshoe.

“The biggest percentage of the road is a 55 mph speed limit,” Carson said. “Unless we have to go across 219, we won’t do it. We know better. Route 219 is curvy and hilly and you can’t make any time safely.”

Trees along the embankment prevented the bus from falling farther, Johnson said. We were lucky the trees were there,” Johnson said. “It could have been a lot worse.”Most of the injuries were facial cuts, bruises and broken bones, said Linda Shoemaker, nursing director at Greenbrier Valley Hospital in Fairlea, where seven passengers were taken. All were in stable condition.

After the crash, students helped remove anybody they could from the bus, Johnson said. Afterward, everybody helped find blankets, sweaters, and other winter clothes for students still clad in shorts and T-shirts from Thursday’s departure from Florida. Students who did not need treatment were taken to the ski resort, Lawson said.

“Many of the students did not wanted to get back on the bus but a few of them still did want to go skiing,” Johnson said.

LIMA, Peru – A bus plunged into a river in the Andean highlands, killing 30 passengers, inthe latest in a string of accidents in Peru, officials said Monday.

Only two people, one a 13-year-old schoolboy, survived Sunday's accident,civil defense officials told Reuters. They broke windows and swam to safety inthe rain-swollen Mantaro river between the towns of La Oroya and Huancayo.

The other survivor, Eduardo Pichardo, 37, told reporters he was sleeping when the bus went off the road, tumbled down a 65-foot hillside and fell into a 33 foot deep stretch of river. "The loud screaming of the women woke me up. I could see that the bus was starting to fall down a bank. I reacted quickly," said Pichardo, who broke a window with his hands and scrambled out as the bus was sinking.

Rescuers said they believed the bus, belonging to the local Carhuamayocompany, was speeding. The accident, in LLocllapampa district, 125 miles east of Lima, took place at the spot where another bus slid off the road and fell into the river Feb. 17, killing 28 people.

Peru also suffered its worst air disaster last Thursday when a Boeing 737 airliner crashed into a hillside killing all 123 passengers and crew. And atidal wave struck the northern coast Feb. 21, killing at least a dozen fishermen.

Civil defense officials said they had recovered the bodies of seven adultsand four children from Sunday's bus crash by early Monday. Rescuers were searching for the bus and the rest of the bodies, which were swept down river.

Huancayo Civil Defense official Carlos Palomino said authorities had been negligent in not erecting barriers or putting up warning signs at the curve where the bus crashed.

"How is it possible that after the last accident in the same place they havenot taken any precautions? he asked"

March 4, 1996

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 23 (Reuter) - A bus plunged down a steep embankment in southeastern Brazil on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring around 50, a fire brigade spokesman said. Firemen had recovered one body and about 50 injured passengers from the crash near the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.

Rescue work was hampered by heavy rain and mud. The spokesman said the exact cause of the accident was not yet known, but Globo television news reported that the bus swerved out of control at a curve on a wet road.

BOMBAY, July 3 - At least 32 people are feared dead after a bus plunged into a river near the industrial city of Ahmedabad in India's western state of Gujarat on Thursday, local news agencies reported.

The bus was carrying more than 50 people to the textile city of Surat from Una in the desert district of Saurashtra, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

Twenty people swam to safety, PTI said. Fifteen bodies were recovered, it quoted local officials as saying.

"The bus skidded off the road and plunged into the river and turned turtle," the United News of India said. Seventeen passengers were still missing, it added.

Many rivers have overflowed their banks in Gujarat following heavy rains in the past week.

Reuters

NEW DELHI - Six people were killed and 30 injured when a bus on which they were travelling overturned in the eastern Indian state of Bihar on Wednesday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said.

The accident happened in the Purnea district, about 280 km (175 miles) east of the state capital, Patna. PTI said the driver lost control of the vehicle, but gave no further details. The incident followed Tuesday's disaster in which at least 27 schoolchildren drowned after their bus plunged into a river on the outskirts of New Delhi.

About 60 children were also injured in the incident when the bus, which was packed to almost twice its capacity, apparently skidded on rubble and crashed through the barrier of a bridge some 10 metres (33 feet) into the Yamuna river.