Breaking News: Bus Explodes

[Ben E Lou]

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MSNBC Breaking News
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Police: Bus carrying Rita evacuees explodes near Dallas. More to come... -

[JonInMiddleGA]

And that's a big-time fire as vehicle fires go, fully engulfed which isn't what usually happens with things like this, although I'm guessing that's because it had to be very hard for firefighters to get to it in all the traffic.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050923/D8CPVELO4.html

DALLAS (AP) - A bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire early Friday on gridlocked Interstate 45, killing or injuring an unknown number of passengers, authorities said.

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. Dallas television station WFAA reported 20 persons were killed.

"There were 45 souls on the bus ... at this point we believe we have about half accounted-for," Dallas County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Don Peritz said.

"The early indications are this is a mechanical issue. The driver did survive the accident," Peritz said. "It's my understanding he went back on the bus several times to try to evacuate people."

He said there were indications that oxygen used by elderly evacuees could have had a role in the fire.

A large, burned-out shell of the bus was to the side of the interstate, where cars were backed up for numerous miles, surrounded by numerous police cars and ambulances.

[sachmo71]

The reports are that a mechanical problem cause a fire, which spread to the cabin and ignited some oxygen tanks. :(

[Noop]

A mechanical failure. Hmm....

[FrogMan]

oh shit, so sad... :(

I wonder what the mechanical issue could be. I work for a coach manufacturer and if it's one of ours, this will rock the world of some of our engineers...

FM

[sachmo71]

oh shit, so sad... :(

I wonder what the mechanical issue could be. I work for a coach manufacturer and if it's one of ours, this will rock the world of some of our engineers...

FM


Could be anything, right? Like brakes? Stop and go traffic from Houston to Dallas could cause brakes to overheat, I would think.

[FrogMan]

Could be anything, right? Like brakes? Stop and go traffic from Houston to Dallas could cause brakes to overheat, I would think.
brakes would be one of the possibilities I would think yeah. We've also started offering a tire pressure monitoring system cause it seems that sometimes tires can also get too hot and catch fire. Since you got two axles in the back, where the engine is, once the fire starts, it's almost impossible to stop anything...

Not many customers have taken it so far, so I doubt this coach (or many others on the road at the moment) would be equipped with something similar...

FM

[vex]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WEATHER/09/23/rita/top.rita.fri.15.bus.ap.jpg (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/23/rita/index.html)


:(

[Glengoyne]

That is really sad. I'm wondering how many folks were on oxygen. In a closed environment like that with an oxygen rich atmosphere, it sounds like it may well have gone up all at once.

[digamma]

Terrible story.

[PilotMan]

I am going to guess that oxygen tanks had something to do with this. That is one reason that they are not allowed on our airline.

[FrogMan]

From the page linked in the picture posted by vexroid:


Dallas County Sheriff's Sgt. Don Peritz said 14 or 15 people got off the bus and said as many as 24 people may have died. (Watch law enforcement official explain bus tragedy -- 3:38 (javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2005/09/23/kagan.bus.fire.affl')))

Peritz said the fire was believed to have started in the bus's brake system and may have caused oxygen canisters on the bus to explode. (Full story (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/23/bus.fire/))


I guess these are usually not allowed, as PM said, but this was a special case. It's not everyday that you carry 45 elderly evacuees.

I've seen a few pictures of coaches after they've caught fire, but that one burned through. Not that it matters to anybody other than people here (my work I mean), it doesn't look like it's one of ours...

FM

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Damn, I feel sorry for all of the families involved... I'll pray for them...

[Lorena]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WEATHER/09/23/rita/top.rita.fri.15.bus.ap.jpg (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/23/rita/index.html)


:(

OMG, that's terrible :( :(

[JeeberD]

Good lord, how sad... :(

[RebelMan]

Condolences to the families of the victims. Very sad. :(

[sterlingice]

Whoa, freaky:

http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showpost.php?p=897102&postcount=75

A night or two after making that post, I was talking with my wife and used the exact example of a bus accident to illustrate the point I was trying to make with the 1.5%/5% reasoning.

SI

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Has anyone asked Minister Farrakhan what he thinks about this?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Terrible death for those folks. My condolences as well.