Bus Explosion

[ash&abby'smom]

A bus filled with 45 elderly evacuees explodes along I-45. They have about half accounted for, but believe the others have perished. The driver survived and believed to have tried to get other evacuees off bus. The interstate is now backed up more from this. They are worried how they will get emergency vehicles to the scene. I hope everyone stuck on the interstate are still able to get out of harms way.

Here's the link to the report: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9449949
It was also on the today show this morning.

Let's keep these people in our prayers that they all can find safety and pray for those who did not make it.

 

[Charade]

I just saw that on MSN (web page) but haven't read the article yet. So sad.

 

[sodaseller]

So sad

 

[Geoff_M]

He said early indications were that a mechanical problem caused the blaze and that passengers' oxygen tanks caught fire.

Wow... The driver re-entered the bus several times to get people out and it appears she/he was a hero, but can you imagine the personal agony he/she must be feeling after that?

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I was just watching an update--45 onboard...14 accounted for. There could have been as many as 31 who died. I can't imagine a death any worse...

 

[mickeyfan2]

This is so sad. I never thought about those O2 tanks being a problem.

 

[RadioNate]

Confirmed dead is 24 in the bus explosion according to our local news. They have also confirmed 2 dead yesterday from CO2 posioning while sitting in traffic and 1 dead from heat stroke while evacuating.

 

[jgmklmhem]

This is so sad. I never thought about those O2 tanks being a problem.

The problem was probably more not from the tanks themseleves but from the atmosphere on the bus having a very high oxygen concentration due to those using the tanks. Any significant spark could have set it off. I am sure once the fire got going the tanks did blow. I know this was probably a quickly thrown together method to evacuate these people but I hope others who transport large number of oxygen using patients together see this and make sure they have really good ventilation systems on their transports. Just another precaution that needs to be looked into.

Burning to death is probably my greatest fear...more so than death itself. Hopefully these people who did die did so quickly and with the least amount of pain possible.

 

[Deb in IA]

Burning to death is probably my greatest fear...more so than death itself. Hopefully these people who did die did so quickly and with the least amount of pain possible.

They probably passed out from smoke inhalation first, before they burned.

 

[seashoreCM]

OT.

A "Chinatown" bus from Boston to New York City caught fire in Connecticut. All of several dozen passengers escaped but concern was raised about cut rate bus operators many of which operate between the Chinatown sections of the respective cities and attract varied clientele including students. The fire was blamed on an air conditioning malfunction.

An MBTA (Boston transit) bus on an express surburban run suffered an engine fire on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Only one passenger was aboard this run which was returning downtown after dropping its rush hour load and he got off safely. In the midst of the resulting traffic jam the turnpike inbound lanes were all shut down for a short while. A news reporter was quoted as saying the bus was "charcoal" when a bulldozer finally arrived to get it off the road. The same section of the turnpike suffered another, larger, over 10 mile long traffic jam when firefighters picketed at one of the interchanges, in Newton, prompting the governor to pledge to have state police arrest picketers in the future.

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