Names of injured Arizona bus crash victims released

KINGMAN, Ariz. — Officials with the Chinese consulate were working with the Mohave County sheriff’s office Monday to contact the families of two tourists killed in an excursion bus accident in northwest Arizona.

The victims included a 46-year-old man who was thrown from the bus and a 44-year-old woman. They were not identified.

The bus was traveling on Pierce Ferry Road, off U.S. Highway 93, from Las Vegas to the Sky Walk at Grand Canyon West when the single-vehicle accident occurred about 8:05 a.m. Sunday.

Sheriff Tom Sheahan said it might take several weeks to determine the cause of the accident.

The sheriff’s office was trying to arrange communication between hospitals and the families of eight other accident victims thought to be visiting from China, he said. Their names and injuries were released.

Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Trish Carter said the bus operated by TBE International Inc. was traveling east when it drifted off the right side of the road onto the dirt shoulder.

“The driver steered back to the left, overcorrected, and the bus ultimately rolled over one complete time, coming to rest back on its wheels,” Carter said.

Sheahan said tour bus wrecks are occurring too frequently along the way to the Sky Walk, a tourism destination operated on behalf of Hualapai Indians.

He said his office has conducted checkpoints to make sure buses are inspected and drivers are properly trained and have proper credentials.

“We just recently met with the Hualapai Tribe and individuals that are responsible for the Grand Canyon West Sky Walk to work on some of the problems, some of the traffic issues, especially bus inspections,” Sheahan said.

“As of right now, it doesn’t look like there were any problems with this bus. Speed may have been a contributing factor, but we’re not sure. We won’t have that for probably a couple of weeks,” he said.

Carter said TBE held a “satisfactory” rating with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as of May 2010.

A woman answering the phone at the company’s headquarters in Hacienda Heights, Calif., declined comment and hung up when contacted Monday afternoon.

Carter said the bus driver, 49-year-old Zhi Lu, and the tour guide, Qiang Du, 52, both of California, were unharmed. Both were wearing lap and shoulder belts.

Carter supplied the names and conditions of the eight injured passengers:

■ Xianzhen Xu, female, admitted to Kingman Regional Medical Center for multiple rib fractures and a possible punctured rib.

■ Wzijian Luo, male, treated and released from Kingman hospital same day.

■ Dongoiang Huang, male, treated and released from Kingman hospital same day.

■ Yingyang Tan, female, treated and released from University Medical Center in Las Vegas same day.

■ Zepeng Zhang, male, admitted to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas with possible spinal injuries.

■ Hanjie Wu, female, admitted to Sunrise Hospital with serious head injuries.

■ Ronexiang Cheng, female, discharged same day from Sunrise Hospital with rib and head injuries.

■ Zheyue Hou, male, admitted to UMC with serious leg and hip injuries.