Criminal charges weighed in deadly Utah bus crash

SALT LAKE CITY -- Prosecutors are considering criminal charges against the driver of a tour bus that careened off a Utah highway, killing three Japanese tourists. Eleven other members of the tour group were injured, with seven of them in critical condition late Tuesday.

Utah Highway Patrol officials said they would not identify the driver, a 26-year-old Japanese man, because he was under investigation.

Names of most passengers were released.

Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett is screening the case for possible charges, trooper Todd Johnson said. Garrett didn't immediately return a message.

Investigators blamed driver error for the rollover crash Monday evening on a straight section of Interstate 15, about four miles north of Cedar City.

"From all indications, the driver was not focussed or paying attention on his driving. He was possibly drowsy at the time, and that's when he went off the left side of the road and rolled it," said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Ted Tingey.

The van-sized bus ended up in a mangled heap on its top, wheels up, just off the highway. The passengers' luggage and other debris was scattered across the weedy median.

Three of the passengers were found dead at the scene. "I could tell," said Kristi Christensen, a Salt Lake city nurse who was on the highway. "I got out and started CPR on one person, but they were gone. I feel awful."

Another seven passengers were flown in critical condition to hospitals in the Salt Lake City area, 250 miles away, including a 14-year-old girl from Osaka, Japan, according to authorities and a tour company.

Four additional passengers were left in serious or stable condition, and some of them have been released from a Cedar City hospital.

The bus driver also was treated for minor injuries and released.

The injured were first taken to Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City, where doctors used a telephone interpreter service to communicate with the Japanese tourists.

Hiroki Hayase, a 20-year-old man from Osaka, was killed in the crash, authorities said. The identities of two others who died -- a 38-year-old man and 40-year-old woman, both from Tokyo -- have not been released by authorities who are trying to notify relatives in Japan.

The group was on its way to Bryce Canyon National Park when the bus veered off the highway.

Utah troopers said they were working to identify the companies involved in arranging the tour.

The bus was provided by Canyon Transportation of Sandy, Utah, company dispatcher Mandy Padilla said. Company officials went to the crash site to conduct their own investigation, she said. It wasn't clear whether the driver worked for Nippon, another company or Canyon Transportation. Padilla offered no additional details.

The bus tour started in Las Vegas, made a stop at Utah's Zion National Park and crashed at 6:40 p.m. Monday about 90 miles short of Bryce Canyon, authorities said.

Bryce Canyon is a popular stop for foreigners who account for about half of the 2 million visitors it gets in a year, a spokesman said.