Probe of Ore. tour bus crash may take a month
Authorities: Investigation of deadly Oregon tour bus crash may take a month or more
Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a multiple-fatality accident after a tour bus careened through a guardrail along an icy highway and fell several hundred feet down a steep embankment, authorities said, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 about 15 miles east of Pendleton, Ore. The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84, according to the Oregon State Police. (AP Photo/East Oregonian, Tim Trainor)
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) -- Authorities say it may be a month or more before investigators and prosecutors decide whether to file charges in the crash of a tour bus in Eastern Oregon that killed nine people.
At a news conference Monday, State Police Lt. Gregg Hastings said investigators don't know how fast the bus was going, but there were icy spots on Interstate 84 through the Blue Mountains.
Hastings says 48 people, most of them Koreans, were on the bus that hit a concrete barrier, veered across both westbound lanes, went through a guardrail and plunged 200 feet down a bank. Hastings says authorities are working with the South Korean consulate to identify victims.
Some survivors have been released from regional hospitals, and a few are in serious or critical condition. Their ages range from 7 to 74.
