Tour bus crash on Highway 93

A tour bus carrying Australian tourists crashed Friday night on Highway 93 approximately twenty miles south of the Nevada border. Golden Valley Fire responded one Attack Unit, and two Chief Officers under the current County-Wide Mutual-Aid Agreement to assist the Lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District. The bus carried 48 passengers and required seven helicopters and ten ambulances to transport patients, six of whom were flown to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada for more serious injuries. The driver of the tour bus is believed to have suffered a heart attack, resulting in the bus hitting a ravine, lurching up a small hill and continuing another 700 feet or so over rough terrain before coming to a stop.

While firefighters and paramedics were treating patients on scene, a moving truck passing through the scene struck the Tri-State CareFlight helicopter rotors just as the pilot was preparing to lift off. The damage to the truck was minor in comparison to the estimated $400,000 in damages sustained by the helicopter. The driver of the tour bus was pronounced dead on the scene from an apparent medical issue which precipitated the accident.