Fatal bus accident caused by ‘bump’ in road, driver says
Print Edition
ALL of the 43 people who were injured on Monday when a bus overturned close to Shanghai’s Donghai Bridge are in stable condition, doctors said yesterday.
Six people were killed when the bus carrying 48 passengers overturned at 10:08am.
The six were pronounced dead at the scene, while 43 people, including the driver, were sent to four local hospitals.
The driver, surnamed Zhao, was flown to Huashan Hospital by helicopter.
Doctors said he had broken his back but had not suffered any spinal damage.
Zhao, 41, told Shanghai Television yesterday that he lost control of the vehicle after running over something.
“It was like going over a step or a bump and then the bus went out of control,” he said.
The bus was only two years old and had been regularly maintained, he said.
Of the people injured, 27 were taken to the Shanghai No. 6 People’s Hospital in Lingang. Five later underwent surgery and one is said to have been paralyzed.
“All of the patients are stable,” said Deng Zhifeng, vice president of the hospital.
Several passengers said they were unaware of the vehicle hitting anything or of the driver having to brake suddenly.
“The bus just overturned slowly,” one person said.
Another said very few people were wearing seat belts as “no one asked them to.”
The Shanghai Bashi Xinlianyi Tourism and Transport Co, which owns the bus, said the driver was not suffering from fatigue at the time of the incident and that the vehicle could not have been speeding as it is fitted with a device that stops it from traveling above 100 kilometers per hour.
“We are surprised the bus overturned as it was on a good road at the time,” said an employee surnamed Ma.
He said the company had launched an inquiry into the incident.
Police and transport officials said they are investigating the cause of the crash.
Insurance companies have begun discussing compensation payments. Families of each of the six people killed are set to receive 940,000 yuan (US$153,500), they said.
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