Four killed, 12 critical in tour bus crash

Firefighters work to get people out of the bus. Photo: Reuters
Firefighters work to get people out of the bus. Photo: Reuters

At least four people have been killed and 12 critically injured in the United States when an amphibious tour bus collided with a charter bus on a Seattle bridge, authorities say.

The fire department said 44 people were treated at area hospitals for injuries on Thursday after the crash on the heavily trafficked Aurora Bridge, which crosses a canal linking Lake Union with the Puget Sound's Shilshole Bay.

Local TV broadcast footage showed the front of the Ride the Ducks bus crumpled with debris on the ground from the impact with the tour bus.

Emergency personnel, including nearly 100 firefighters, raced to the scene to treat the injured.

Seattle mayor Ed Murray described the crash as "a terrible tragedy" and said one of the buses had foreign students on board.

"We are contacting their consulates," he told a news conference.

A witness to the crash, Jesse Christenson (32) saw the duck boat with its turn signal on trying to get in the left lane, and then it made a sharp move to the left.

"I initially thought it was a (tire) blow out. The duck boat then hit another car with a roof rack then went head on into the oncoming tour bus," Christenson told the Seattle Times newspaper. 

Four people died at the scene, Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins told reporters. Among the 44 injured, 12 were in critical condition while 32 received non-life-threatening injuries, city officials said.

The people on the tour bus suffered the majority of the significant injuries, a fire department spokeswoman said. Two other passenger vehicles were involved in the crash, she said.

The accident comes nearly five months after an amphibious sightseeing vehicle hit and killed a woman on a Philadelphia street in May.

Ride the Ducks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The company takes tourists on amphibious tours of Seattle and other US cities and features a quirky history lesson delivered by the bus driver that includes loud music and theatrical props.

The vessels resemble the amphibious transport trucks used by the US military in World War II.

 

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