ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602050071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HILLSBORO, W.VA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: above
A charter bus carrying Florida college students to a ski resort skidded on ice on a winding mountain road and flipped down a 40-foot embankment Friday.
The 47 passengers were transported to two hospitals, and state police said 22 required treatment for injuries. No one was killed.
``I saw the guard rail, and the next thing I knew we were upside-down,'' said Doug Johnson, the group's ski trip leader. ``It seemed like we were going too fast to be in control.''
The bus crashed at 10:10 a.m. along U.S. 219 on 3,000-foot Droop Mountain, which had received about 2 inches of snow overnight, said State Police Sgt. J.K. Riffle in Marlinton.
``The bus hit some ice,'' Riffle said. ``It was going down the mountain and just slid over the bank.''
Trees along the embankment prevented the bus from falling farther, Johnson said.
``We were lucky the trees were there,'' Johnson said. ``It could have been a whole lot worse.''
Passengers, all University of Florida students from Gainesville, said the bus was headed to Snowshoe Mountain Resort.
Most of the injuries were facial cuts, bruises and broken bones, said John Hill, chief of the Hillsboro Rescue Squad.
``It was chaos,'' said Hill, who arrived 10 minutes after the accident.
Three trapped victims were freed quickly, including one who had two broken legs.
Roger Murray, a volunteer ambulance driver with the Hillsboro Rescue Squad, said he spoke with some of the students at the hospital, who said ``the bus driver had previous brake problems to start with.''
``They sat and let the brake pressure build up and proceeded on [their] way after sitting approximately 45 minutes. When he turned over Droop [Mountain], he didn't have any brakes,'' Murray said.
The Blue and White Co. bus was chartered out of Gainesville. The company is based in Altoona, Pa. Company officials did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
The company will provide another bus to take the students home, the university said.
Paul Trissel and Kevin Healy, both sailors from Virginia Beach, were in a car traveling immediately behind the bus. They said the bus driver was taking turns too fast for road conditions.
The bus started slipping, then went over the hill, said Nelson Valdez, a passenger.
The students helped remove anybody they could from the bus, Johnson said. Afterward, everybody helped find blankets, sweaters, and other winter clothes for students still clad in shorts and T-shirts from Thursday's departure.
Thirty-seven passengers were initially transported to Pocahontas Memorial Hospital in Marlinton, some aboard a school bus, said Al Lawson, the hospital's chief executive officer.
At least seven of them were later transferred to other hospitals in Morgantown and Virginia, hospital officials said.
Students who did not need treatment were taken to the ski resort, Lawson said.
``Many of the students did not want to get back on the bus, but a few of them still did want to go skiing,'' Johnson said.
Scott Carson, director of operations at West Virginia Coach, a charter bus company based in Huntington, questioned the route taken by the bus. He said West Virginia 92, about 10 miles east of U.S. 219, is bus drivers' preferred route to Snowshoe.
Two wreckers removed the bus from the embankment Friday, as debris, clothes, and other remnants from the bus streamed down the mountain.
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