Posted on 09/23/2005 5:08:41 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
DEATHS: Bus carrying Hurricane Rita evacuees has exploded on Interstate 45 near Dallas...
It's against the law to smoke on the bus, isn't it?
Maybe there was another cause?
Oh no!
Sorry, I am half awake..I should have been talking about diesal fuel tanks.
diesel at that...
If there wasn't a rule before about not storing oxygen tanks under the seating compartment, there should have been.
How tragic
ABC radio reporting possibly 20 dead.
As many as 20 reportedly dead in evacuee bus fire
07:38 AM CDT on Friday, September 23, 2005A passenger bus carrying evacuees from the Houston area exploded into flames near Dallas and there are as many as 20 deaths and 25 injuries.
The bus was carrying elderly evacuees from Bellaire, according to the Dallas Fire Department.
There were 45 souls on the bus ... at this point we believe we have about half accounted for, Dallas County Sheriffs spokesman Sgt. Don Peritz. He said early indications were that a mechanical problem caused the blaze and that passengers oxygen tanks caught fire.
The bus was engulfed with flames, causing a 17-mile backup on a freeway that was already heavily congested with evacuees from the Gulf Coast. By early Friday morning, the bus was reduced to a blackened, burned-out shell, surrounded by numerous police cars and ambulances.
The early indications are this is a mechanical issue, Peritz said. The driver did survive the accident. Its my understanding he went back ont he bus several times to try to evacuate people.
OMG, they let someone on oxygen SMOKE?
Oh Dear God! This country is being brought to its knees in so many ways.
I was in Nevada this summer, and I saw quite a few folks dragging their oxygen tanks around with them. On one occasion a fellow tried to light up (smoking is permitted in the casinos). Thank God, a security guy, seeing the oxygen tank, asked him to put it out.
Valu-Bus.
So terribly sad.
MSNBC 24 dead
24 confirmed dead. I'm in the D/FW area and a local traffic reporter was on the scene pretty earlier. He reported people breaking the windows trying to get out but at the time he couldn't report if anyone was left on the bus.
Horrible!
I just received a pager message that agrees with that number. How awful.
Was it carrying patient(s) with an oxygen requirement and some moron lit a cig?
Let me guess...George W. Bush started the fire, right? Houston's white mayor? Can't wait to see the media hysterical anger towards Bush and anyone from TX.
Bus Carrying Evacuees Explodes; At Least 20 Dead
TV Station Reports 24 DeathsPOSTED: 7:06 am CDT September 23, 2005
UPDATED: 7:59 am CDT September 23, 2005DALLAS -- As many as 20 nursing home patients were killed early Friday when a busload of elderly Hurricane Rita evacuees from the Houston caught fire then was rocked by a series of explosions on gridlocked Interstate 45, a Dallas County Sheriff's spokesman said.
The bus loaded with 43 passengers was engulfed with flames, causing a 17-mile backup on a freeway that was already heavily congested with evacuees from the Gulf Coast.
"Deputies were unable to get everyone off the bus," spokesman Don Peritz said. "We believe it's gonna be closer to 20 fatalities."
A Dallas County Medical Examiner told KXAS-TV that they are expecting as many as 24 fatalities.
By early Friday morning, the bus was reduced to a blackened, burned-out shell, surrounded by numerous police cars and ambulances.
Peritz said it appears a mechanical problem aboard the bus caused a fire that reached oxygen tanks belonging to the elderly passengers.
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