License suspended for owners of tour bus in crash

By Mary Manning (contact)

Published Monday, Feb. 2, 2009 | 12:31 p.m.

Updated Monday, Feb. 2, 2009 | 5:59 p.m.

The charter bus company involved in a fatal crash that killed seven Chinese tourists south of the Hoover Dam on Friday had its certification in California suspended Monday because its liability insurance has lapsed.

A spokeswoman for the California Public Utilities Commission said the liability insurance expired Monday, and the company's certificate to operate had been suspended by the PUC.

The company, DW Tour & Charter, of San Gabriel, Calif., reportedly owns two buses and employs four drivers.

The company also had received an administrative violation last year and was fined by the utilities commission.

The commission fined DW Tour & Charter $750 in October for using two unlicensed subcarrier companies from May to July 2008, according to PUC records.

A subcarrier is a carrier company that works for a prime carrier when the prime carrier can't do the job because of overbooking or other reasons, a spokeswoman for the California PUC said Monday.

Federal and state investigators this past weekend began probing clues and the wreckage of the 24-passenger 2007 Chevrolet Starcraft bus with 16 people on board that veered off northbound U.S. 93 about 27 miles south of the Hoover Dam at about 3:06 p.m. Friday Las Vegas time.

Preliminary information released by federal and Arizona authorities has determined that the tour bus partially drifted off the left side of U.S. 93 when the driver was distracted, authorities said.

The driver then overcorrected to the right, which caused the bus to travel across the northbound lanes, off the roadway to the right and onto the dirt shoulder. The driver then overcorrected again, investigators said, sending the bus back across the northbound lanes, into the center median and into the southbound lanes, where it rolled and came to rest on its right side.

Investigators do not suspect an criminal involvement in this case, nor do they believe the driver was impaired before the crash, authorities said. The tour bus crash is an ongoing investigation.

A second crash within minutes of the tour bus incident involved a motorcyclist traveling southbound on U.S. 93 when the motorcyclist lost control and slid off the roadway. The motorcyclist was taken to an Arizona hospital where he was treated and released. This collision is separate and not part of the tour bus crash investigation.

Six people ejected from the bus died at the scene, the Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said. A seventh person, a 50-year-old man, died at University Medical Center about 5:30 p.m. Friday, UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said.

State of Arizona and federal authorities are coordinating efforts to identify all of the passengers and a representative of the Chinese consulate's office in Los Angeles worked with officials in Las Vegas over the weekend, Lt. James Warriner of the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.

Investigators said the bus veered to the right as it was returning to Las Vegas from the Grand Canyon's West Rim, then overcorrected and crossed the barren desert median that separated the four-lane U.S. 93 into two lanes in both directions. The bus turned over at least once, coming to rest on its right side into oncoming southbound traffic, authorities said.

The passengers' injuries included spinal and head injuries, fractured bones and bruises to the face and head, Plummer said.

Listed below are the identities of the bus occupants that were injured in the collision. At the request of the Chinese Consulate’s Office, the names of those killed will be withheld until later this week while family members are notified of the deaths.

• Driver: Han D. Dong, male, 48, Rose Mead Calif., injured, transported to a Las Vegas area medical center, admitted.
• Passenger: Shou Gui Wu, male, 47, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, treated and released.
• Passenger: Rui Hua Bao, female, 35, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, treated and released.
• Passenger: Yee Kwan Lau, female, 41, China, injured, transported to a Kingman, Ariz., medical center, admitted.
• Passenger: Tian Yi Xie, female, 19, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, admitted.
• Passenger: Bang Yao Hong, male, 50, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, admitted.
• Passenger: Shuang Wu, male, 8, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, treated and released.
• Ya Fen Cheng, female, 51, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, admitted.
• Ying Lei Zhao, female, 35, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, admitted.
• Shun Xing Zhao, male, 61, China, injured, transported to a Las Vegas medical center, admitted.