Arizona officials still investigating bus crash

By Mary Manning

Monday, Feb. 9, 2009 | 11:47 a.m.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officials said Monday that investigators are still reviewing information, documents and evidence in a tour bus crash that killed seven people on Jan. 30.

Arizona's investigation could take weeks before any conclusions can be reached, said Lt. Jim Warriner of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it will be a year before a final report is prepared on the crash.

Lead NTSB investigator Peter Kotwoski said over the weekend that the agency's preliminary investigation indicated the tour bus driver was trying to fix a problem with the bus door and sunlight blinded him before the crash near Dolan Springs, Ariz., 27 miles south of the Hoover Dam. The bus was returning to Las Vegas from a day trip to the Grand Canyon's West Rim.

Investigators didn't find problems with the driver's side door or any other mechanical problems on the bus owned by D.W. Tour and Charter of San Gabriel, Calif.

A tour guide, 45-year-old Wen Ting Chen, and six Chinese tourists were killed in the crash as the bus headed northbound on U.S. 93 in Arizona. Ten others were injured, including the driver, 48-year-old Han Dong of Rosemead, Calif. He has remained hospitalized at University Medical Center and is in fair condition.

Kotwoski said that Dong was licensed to drive the tour bus and had been working for the bus company for about six months.

The bus did not have seat belts and was not required to have them, Ktowoski said. Of the 17 passengers, 15 were thrown through the bus windows.

The tour bus company had been listed as satisfactory in a federal compliance review in August 2007, according to records from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The agency said it is conducting a separate review since the crash.