PHOENIX – A minibus-based tour bus en route to the Grand Canyon rolled into northwest Arizona on Friday, killing one person and injuring two others critically, authorities said.
The cause of the wreckage around Friday afternoon was not yet known, said Anita Mortensen, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office in Mohave County. It was not clear if there was any other vehicle involved. A photo from the sheriff’s office shows the bus on its side on a curved road, with no snow or rain in the remote area.
There were 48 people in the bus, including the driver, authorities said. After the crash, 44 people were sent to Kingman Regional Medical Center, including two who were flown by medical helicopter, spokeswoman Teri Williams said. All the others were treated for minor injuries, she said.
Mortensen said two people were critically injured.
The bus was on its way to Grand Canyon West, about 2 1/2 hours from Las Vegas and beyond the boundaries of the national park. The tourist destination is located on the Hualapai Reserve and is best known for the Skywalk, a glass bridge that juts out 21 meters from the gorge walls and gives visitors a view of the Colorado River, which is 1,219 meters below.
Before the pandemic, about 1 million people a year visited Grand Canyon West, mostly through tours booked from Las Vegas. The Hualapai reservation contains 174 kilometers of the western edge of the Grand Canyon. In addition to the Skywalk, it has helicopter tours, horseback riding and a one-day rafting trip on the Colorado River.
The Hualapai reservation also has a road to the Colorado River where rooftop savings that have permits through the national park can drive up and down.
It is also close to where four Chinese citizens died in 2016 when their van collided with a Dallas Cowboys bus, traveling to a promotional stop in Las Vegas.
In 2009, a tour bus with Chinese citizens overturned on US 93 near the Hoover Dam, killing several people and injuring others. The group returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Federal investigators cited the driver’s inattention as the probable cause of the crash. The bus driver tried to solve a problem with the airflow through his door before the accident, and was distracted, then fell off the road and corrected too much before crossing a median and overturning. Most passengers were evicted. The tour guide and six Chinese tourists were killed.
John MacDonald, a spokesman for the Hualapai tribe, did not immediately have further information on Friday’s wreck. National Transportation Safety Council spokesman Keith Holloway said he did not immediately have more information about the accident or the NTSB involvement.
A Grand Canyon West spokesman did not immediately return messages for more information.