MADERA COUNTY — One of the injured passengers from yesterday’s bus crash on Highway 41 has died, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The victim was a young teenager, and one of 12 people injured yesterday afternoon when a tour bus filled with students and chaperones from China veered off the road and hit a large tree near Sugar Pine north of Oakhurst.
Just after 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, the bus was southbound from Yosemite National Park when the driver entered a corner at “an unsafe speed” and left the west side of the roadway striking the tree, according to CHP.
All the students on the bus were reportedly between the ages of 12 and 15, and seven were transported to Valley Children’s Hospital. Two were critically injured and were airlifted to Community Regional Medical Center were one later died. Two others also sustained major injuries.
The highway was closed for over four hours as the injured were tended to and the accident investigated.
The bus was registered to A-Top Line Charter out of Monterey Park, Calif. There is no indication at this time that drugs or alcohol were involved.
A bus from Discover Yosemite responded to the scene to transport the 10 uninjured passengers to their hotel in Oakhurst.
(Photo courtesy ABC30)
