OT: Ohio college baseball team bus crashes

[ATLien]

Very, very sad news.

RIP

An investigation is under way to determine why a tour bus carrying an Ohio college baseball team crashed onto I-75 at full speed this morning, killing six and injuring 29.

The interstate was closed for five hours during the morning commute but has since reopened.

At a press conference late this morning police said the driver of the southbound bus was apparently exited the interstate at "highway speed" at Northside Drive and made no attempt to stop at the intersection. The bus was travelling in the HOV lane, the far left lane of the busy roadway.
Police said there were no skid marks on the pavement, which indicates the driver either did not attempt to stop, or there was a mechanical failure.

The driver of the bus was killed along with his wife and four students from Bluffton University, officials confirmed.

Survivors have spoken with investigators and told police the bus was travelling at highway speed as it attempted to negotiate the turn onto Northside Drive, crossed several lanes of traffic and crashed through a retaining wall and fence before falling down onto the southbound lanes of the interstate. Survivors said most passengers were asleep, but the driver was "fresh," having taken the wheel about 4:30 a.m., one hour before the crash.

An electronic device on the bus will be used to determine more about the accident, said an official with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the wreck along with local authorities.

There was no indication drugs or alcohol were a cause of the crash, police said.

Police said the bus crashed onto the interstate from an overpass at Northside Drive around 5:30 a.m., killing six people and closing the southbound lanes of the busy interstate for 5 hours.

There were 35 people on the bus. The injured were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, Piedmont Hospital and Atlanta Medical Center.

Atlanta police said 20 passengers were "walking wounded" and nine suffered more serious injuries.

Bluffton University Coach James Grandley, 29, is among the three considered seriously injured. He is listed in serious condition at Piedmont Hospital but is expected to improve.

Students Chris Bauman, 21, and A.J. Ramthun, 18, had less serious injuries and are at the hospital and listed in good condition.

Ramthun, a freshman, who said he woke up as the bus began to crash, described a scene of total chaos as the bus flipped over the the bridge and landed on the side he was sitting.

Curt Schroeder, a sophomore catcher on the "tightly knit" team, kept telling him to get out, that there was gasoline all over the place, the bruised Ramthun told a group of reporters outside of Grady Hospital.

"I heard some guys crying, saying 'I'm stuck; I'm stuck,' " Ramthun said.
He looked around for his brother, Mike, a sophomore, but could not find him. His brother was trapped under the bus and has an injured hip.

"He might not recover," Ramthun said, saying he was already feeling guilty because he suffered only slight injuries to his collarbone and face. "I don't know how to talk to them."

The team was to have driven non-stop to Florida from Ohio. "The first time we were supposed to stop was 8 a.m. for breakfast," Ramthun said.
Listed on the team's roster is a metro area athlete, pitcher Tim Kay, from Alpharetta. His father, Ed Kay, said Timothy was "in good shape" and only suffered cuts and scratches.

Allen Slabaugh, a sophomore pitcher on the team from Dalton, Ohio, was thrown from the bus with three other passengers and luggage before the vehicle plunged from the bridge, said Chester Slabaugh, the student's father.

The student suffered "some stitches," his father said. He did not think the others who were ejected were hurt badly.

"He was sleeping and then got ejected before it went over the bridge," the senior Slabaugh said Friday morning as he prepared to go to the airport. "He did not go over, by the grace of God."

Atlanta fire officials said 55 firefighters responded to the scene, as well as emergency medical workers from area hospitals.

MARTA sent a bus to help carry the least injured passengers to hospitals.
Darryl Murphy, a MARTA bus supervisor, said he arrived to find a chaotic scene with rescue workers scurrying about the overturned bus.

The 13 baseball players who boarded his MARTA bus were walking and not visibly injured, Murphy said. The young men were subdued and didn't say much, he said.

As the bus lay on its side perpendicular to the interstate lanes, passengers began crawling out, helped by motorists who had stopped beyond the wreck. Luggage and personal belongings were scattered over the highway.

"It was really dramatic," said Dr. Eric Ossmann, who was on the scene as medical director of Grady's emergency medical service.

At about 10 a.m., a tow truck was seen pulling the bus away from the accident scene.

On Northside Drive, above the wreck, luggage and baseball equipment was scattered on the road, apparently dislodged from the bus when it hit the bridge's 2-foot-high retaining wall and crashed through a 10-foot-high fence atop the wall.

The plunging bus clipped two trucks that were southbound on 75. A Chevrolet sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck were hit but neither driver was injured.

Danny Lloyd of Frostburg, Md., was driving the pickup truck.
He said he thought it was a "big slab of concrete" falling from the bridge.
"I just closed my eyes and stepped on the gas," said Lloyd, who was traveling from Cincinnati to Florida.

Lloyd slid by the bus, getting hit on the roof. His front bumper was torn off.
Bluffton University is affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA and according to the school's Web site, "students will scatter East, West and yes, South, to serve, minister, perform and play ball during spring break, March 3-11."

"This is a sad tragedy for the students, families, friends and Bluffton University campus community. We are asking for prayers of support during this time," said Bluffton University President James M. Harder."
Some students were headed for Louisiana to work with Mennonite disaster services to aid Katrina victims, a student drama ministry team was headed to churches in Indiana, Minnesota and Illinois. Another group, the Camerata Singers were touring in the East. Their theme was "Through Faith and Prayer."

The baseball team was headed to the Gene Cusic Classic in Ft. Myers, Fla. to play in annual tournament, where more than 300 teams, many or most from "cold weather climate" states come to play a week's worth of games during spring break.

The baseball team's schedule had the team playing Eastern Mennonite in Sarasota, Fla., on Saturday, then playing in the Fort Myers tournament March 5-9.

I can't understand why the driver did not try to stop or anything. The bus fell off the bridge & landed on two other cars.

[Doppelgänger]

Man that is scary, and really hits home for me considering I'm doing the same thing next week...

[browntown653]

Horrible news. My heart goes out to these kids and the team.

[Doppelgänger]

Ditto, I think everyone should keep them in there prayers

[Hardy Blonde]

Very sad, heard about it on the news here. The guy was trying to correct himself but it just happened too soon...