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PHOENIX (AP) – A Las Vegas-based tour bus heading to the Grand Canyon overturned in northwestern Arizona on Friday, killing one and seriously injuring two others, authorities said.
The cause of the wreckage around noon Friday was not yet known, said Anita Mortensen, spokeswoman for the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear if another vehicle was involved. A photo from the sheriff’s office showed the bus sideways on a winding road with no snow or rain in the remote area.
There were 48 people on the bus, including the driver, authorities said. After the crash, 45 people were sent to Kingman Regional Medical Center, including two by medical helicopter, spokeswoman Teri Williams said. Everyone else was treated for minor injuries, she said.
Mortensen said two people were seriously injured.
The bus was heading to Grand Canyon West, about 2.5 hours from Las Vegas and outside the national park boundaries. The tourist destination is on the Hualapai Preserve and is best known for the Skywalk, a glass bridge that protrudes 21 meters from the canyon walls and offers visitors a view of the Colorado River at 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) in below.
Before the pandemic, about 1 million people a year visited Grand Canyon West, mostly through booked tours in Las Vegas. The Hualapai Preserve includes 108 miles (174 kilometers) of the western rim of the Grand Canyon. In addition to the Skywalk, it offers helicopter tours, horseback riding, and a day of whitewater rafting on the Colorado River.
The area near the crash is a popular endpoint for Colorado River rafting trips through the Grand Canyon.
It’s also near where four Chinese nationals died in 2016 when their van collided with a Dallas Cowboys staff bus heading to a promotional preseason stop in Las Vegas.
In 2009, a tour bus carrying Chinese nationals overturned on US 93 near the Hoover Dam, killing several people and injuring others. The group was returning from a trip to the Grand Canyon.
John MacDonald, a spokesperson for the Hualapai Tribe, did not immediately have more information about the wreckage on Friday. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said he did not immediately have more details about the crash or the NTSB’s involvement.
A spokeswoman for Grand Canyon West did not immediately return messages asking for more information.
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Fonseca reported from Flagstaff. Associated Press reporters Ken Ritter and Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas, Terry Tang in Phoenix, and AP / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative body member Sam Metz in Carson City, Nevada contributed.
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