A Greyhound bus careened from a highway and plunged into a deep wash, killing a 13-year-old girl and injuring 12 other people on New Year’s Eve in rural Utah, state troopers said Monday.
Investigators were still trying to determine what caused the crash along Interstate 70 west of the city of Green River.
However, a passenger reported a possible medical issue with the driver, the Utah Highway Patrol said in a news release.
The Utah Highway Patrol has identified the 13-year-old girl as Summer Pinzon of Azusa, California, who was traveling on the bus with her mother. Troopers say the girl’s mother has been hospitalized.
The Greyhound bus (pictured on January 1) careened from a highway and plunged into a deep wash
A 13-year-old girl was killed and 12 other people were injured in the crash on New Year’s Eve in rural Utah
The bus was heading west across the desert from Green River to Las Vegas, Trooper Jared Cornia said.
It went off the shoulder of the highway around 11pm and plunged into the wash, crashing about 200 feet from the highway.
Pinzon was killed and the bus driver and two passengers were taken by helicopters in serious condition to hospitals in Grand Junction, Colorado, and Provo, Utah.
Cornia did not have updates on their conditions.
Eight other injured passengers were taken by ambulances to hospitals, he said.
The bus was heading west across the desert from Green River to Las Vegas when it crashed
A passenger reported a possible medical issue with the driver, the Utah Highway Patrol said in a news release
Cornia said roads were clear and conditions were good and were not believed to have been a factor in the crash.
He said investigators were trying to obtain video from a camera aboard the bus to help determine what happened.
Lanesha Gipson, a spokeswoman for Greyhound, said the company is cooperating with authorities and conducting its own investigation.
Gipson did not have information on the driver.