(Mohave County Sheriff’s Office)
DOLAN SPRINGS, Ariz. – A Las Vegas-based tour bus bound for the Grand Canyon overturned in northwest Arizona on Friday, killing one person and seriously injuring two others, officials said.
The cause of the shipwreck around noon on Friday was not yet known, said Anita Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear whether any other vehicles were involved. A photo from the sheriff’s office showed the bus tipped over on a winding road with no snow or rain in the remote area.
There were 48 people on the bus, including the driver, officials said. After the accident, 44 people were sent to the Kingman Regional Medical Center, including two transported by medical helicopter, said spokeswoman Teri Williams. All others were treated for minor injuries, she said.
Mortensen said two people were seriously injured.
The bus was going to the Grand Canyon West, about 2 ½ hours from Las Vegas and outside the boundaries of the national park. The tourist destination is in the Hualapai reserve and is best known for the Skywalk, a glass bridge that projects 70 feet (21 meters) from the canyon walls and offers visitors a view of the Colorado River 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) below.
Before the pandemic, about 1 million people a year visited the Grand Canyon West, mainly through tours scheduled outside Las Vegas. The Hualapai reserve includes 108 miles (174 kilometers) from the western rim of the Grand Canyon. In addition to the Skywalk, it offers helicopter tours, horseback riding and a day of rafting on the Colorado River.
The Hualapai reserve also has a road to the Colorado River, where beams that are allowed to cross the national park can enter and leave trips.
It is also close to where four Chinese died in 2016 when their van collided with a Dallas Cowboys bus heading to a pre-season promotional stop in Las Vegas.
In 2009, a tour bus carrying Chinese citizens overturned US 93 near Hoover Dam, killing several people and injuring others. The group was returning from a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Federal investigators cited the driver’s inattention as the likely cause of the accident. The bus driver was trying to fix a problem with the airflow through the door before the accident and was distracted, so he got off the road and corrected too much before crossing a central construction site and flipping over. Most of the passengers were ejected. The tour guide and six Chinese tourists were killed.
John MacDonald, a spokesman for the Hualapai tribe, did not immediately know more about Friday’s wreckage. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said he did not immediately have more details about the accident or about NTSB involvement.
A Grand Canyon West spokeswoman did not immediately return messages seeking more information.