Brakes blamed in tour bus accident

Monday, April 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Five of the passengers were critically injured, though none had life-threatening injuries and all were expected to recover, Mohave County sheriff's spokeswoman Jody Schanaman said.

"We got back injuries, face lacerations, arms and shoulders hurt. They were flip-flopped all around the bus and got hit by glass and stuff," said J.R. Harris, a driver with Las Vegas-based Grey Line Tours who came upon the accident about 20 minutes after it happened Friday.

"We had people on my bus who knew first aid, so they helped them," Harris said.

Fifteen people were treated for various injuries at the Kingman Regional Medical Center and one was flown to University Medical Center in Las Vegas. The others were evaluated and refused treatment at a staging area on the Hualapai Indian reservation, Schanaman said.

Wei Cheng, who was driving the bus from Las Vegas-based 88 Tours Service, said after the accident that "it felt like the brakes went out," Harris said.

Schanaman said today that a preliminary investigation by the sheriff's office found "the brake linkage on the bus malfunctioned and left the bus with no brakes."

Speed was not a factor, said Stephen Johnson, a spokesman for the sheriff's department.

A woman answering the telephone listed to 88 Tours in Las Vegas referred callers to another number. A man who answered the second number said he was not affiliated with 88 Tours.

The group applied for -- but did not receive -- an operating certificate in 1995 to run tours in Clark County, but there were language problems and the group was overwhelmed by paperwork, said Rick Hackman, spokesman for the Nevada Public Service Commission.

The federal agency that licenses tourist groups that wish to operate in another state -- such as from Nevada to Arizona -- was unreachable.