Tour bus overturns south of Naples
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| A tour bus from Edmonton, Alberta, overturned this morning at the south end of the Naples Bridge with 54 people aboard. Fortunately, passengers suffered only minor injuries. The ambulance in the background is on Shiloh Loop. |
Within moments, a heavy local emergency response was underway, with Idaho State Police, Sheriffs deputies, Boundary Volunteer Ambulance, Boundary County Emergency Management, firefighters from Paradise Valley and South Boundary Fire Deparments, the Idaho Transportation Department and more on scene, quickly bringing order to a chaotic scene.
Idaho State Police Corporal Kevin Bennett was the investigating officer.
According to the Idaho State Police, the bus, a 1999 Prevost, was driven by Gang Want, 41, of Calgary, Alberta, when the accident occurred. The bus left the right side of the road, entered the ditch, crossed Shiloh Loop, and went down a steep embankment near milepost 497, narrowly missing the toe of the bridge guardrail, before tipping over on its right side and coming to rest on several trees.
Wang, who was not injured, was cited for inattentive driving.
After the crash, those aboard the bus, one of whom told a responder that they were returning home after having worked for a Habitat for Humanity-like project in the Portland, Oregon, area, passengers, mostly young people in their 20s and 30s, remained calm, helping firefighter, EMTs and one another exit the bus.
A total of eight people suffered injuries, and all were treated and released at Boundary Community Hospital.
Two school buses were dispatched to the scene to transport the uninjured to Boundary County Middle School, where they awaited another tour bus to be sent from Lethbridge, as well as recovery of the bus they were traveling on so as to retrieve their passports and other belongings.
With U.S. 95 shut down for much of the time, the bus was recovered and the roadway cleared at around 3 p.m., and those aboard the bus were back on their way by about 4:30 p.m.