Bus tire drawing scrutiny

A tire problem appears to have triggered Sunday evening's shuttle bus crash that injured 29 Terrible Herbst employees, investigators said.

"Everything right now points to perhaps some kind of tire problem or malfunction," said Duane Ford, president of DB Ford Inc., the insurance claims adjuster for the transportation company, AWG Charter Services of Las Vegas.

Ford said his investigation had ruled out driver fatigue -- the driver had been on duty for an hour -- and any medical problem with the driver of the 2007 BCI Falcon bus.

A problem with the front left tire appeared to cause the bus to veer off the highway, he said.

"We're just sifting through the rubble trying to figure out what happened," Ford said.

The Nevada Highway Patrol's investigation was pointing in the same direction, though the investigation was far from over, trooper Kevin Honea said.

"We're looking at everything from tire-tread separation to some other mechanical problem to driver error," Honea said.

Pieces of tire tread were left on the highway, but investigators did not know whether it shredded before, during or after the crash on northbound Interstate 15 near St. Rose Parkway, Honea said.

Meanwhile, three people, a 61-year-old man and two women, ages 51 and 72, remained hospitalized at University Medical Center, spokeswoman Tammy McMahan said.

Two women, ages 49 and 59, had been sent home by Monday afternoon, she said.

"We're a family, and we're concerned about our coworkers," said Michael Starr, general manager of Terrible Herbst's three properties in Primm.

Employee shuttle buses run between Las Vegas and Primm five or six times a day.

In January, an employee bus crashed and burst into flames about seven miles north of Primm. About two dozen bus passengers were hurt in that crash. None of the injuries was life-threatening.

That bus was operated by Terrible Herbst, Ford said.

I-15 has been the site of several bus crashes in recent years.

In March 1999, a tour bus carrying 37 fifth-graders from Henderson rammed into a tractor-trailer south of the California-Nevada line and descended a 40-foot embankment. The crash killed the 80-year-old bus driver and injured about 30 children, who were returning from a field trip to Sea World in San Diego.

Two years later, a Greyhound bus ran off the highway and flipped down an embankment in Glendale, about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas, after the driver fell asleep behind the wheel. The July 2001 crash injured 37 people.

In September 2004, a bus carrying tourists bound for Las Vegas rolled off I-15 on Mountain Pass south of Primm. Ten of the 19 people on the bus were thrown from the vehicle, but no one was killed. Authorities blamed the crash on driver error.

Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.