Feds launch separate investigation into tour bus crash

By Mary Manning

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009 | 12:24 p.m.

A separate investigation has been launched by an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation into the bus company involved in Friday's fatal crash that killed seven Chinese tourists.

Arizona and National Transportation Safety Board investigators already are examining the driver's actions just before the bus -- carrying 17 people, including the driver -- veered out of control on northbound U.S. 93 about 27 miles south of the Hoover Dam.

Now, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is launching its own investigation into the company, DW Tour & Charter, of San Gabriel, Calif., FMCSA spokesman Duane DeBruyne said today. State investigators don't suspect any criminal intent, nor do they believe the driver was impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, said Lt. James Warriner of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

According to FMCSA records, the bus company passed its compliance review on Aug. 16, 2007, with a "satisfactory" rating, DeBruyne said. It has no reports of either of its two buses ever being involved in crashes.

In 2007, the federal agency fined the tour bus company $1,200 for two counts of using a driver before receiving pre-employment screening results, and $940 for one count of failing to implement a random drug and/or alcohol testing program, for a total of $2,140 in negotiated settlements, DeBruyne said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is the lead agency in the crash investigation in Arizona, along with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, but FMCSA will do an independent review of its own, DeBruyne said.

The names of the seven people who died -- six at the scene of the crash and one late Friday afternoon at University Medical Center in Las Vegas -- haven't been released.

Two women remained in critical condition at UMC: 51-year-old Ya Fen Cheng and 35-year-old Ying Lei Zhao, a spokesman said.

A 61-year-old man, Shun Xing Zhao, has been upgraded to fair conditions at UMC.

The driver, 48-year-old Han D. Dong of Rosemead, Calif., is still hospitalized, although investigators did a preliminary interview with him Monday, said UMC spokesman Rick Plummer.

An 8-year-old boy, Shuang Wu, was treated and released Sunday from UMC's Pediatric Ward, Plummer said.

Wu's father, 47-year-old Shou Gui Wu, has been treated and released, as well as 35-year-old Rui Hua Bao.

Two other patients remain at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. They are a woman, 19-year-old Tian Yi Xie and a 50-year-old man, Bang Yao Hong, both listed in fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A 41-year-old woman, Yee Kwan Lau, underwent surgery Monday at Kingman Regional Medical Center in Arizona.