WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board has decided to conduct a full-blown investigation of the fatal crash of a church-owned and operated motorcoach that smashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer last October in Tallulah, La.
Eight of the 14 passengers in the 1992 Neoplan coach were killed and the other six sustained serious injuries. The 66-year-old driver was injured but survived. A relief driver on-board the bus was killed.
Witnesses, driving behind the coach for more than 30 miles, reported the bus would speed up, slow down and drift from lane to lane. On two occasions before the crash the coach almost struck vehicles as it was drifting across lanes. The crash occurred at about 10:50 a.m. on a dry Interstate 20 on an overcast day.
The driver was questioned by an officer from the local sheriff's office about 20 minutes after crash. Still trapped in the wreckage, the driver told the officer that he didn't know what had happened, that he must have either "nodded off" or fallen asleep.
Most of those on the bus were members of the First Baptist Church of ElDorado, Texas. Three women on the coach were not members of the church.
The bus was on a multi-state "Senior Ambassador Tour" called "Amish Country Plus" that originated in ElDorado. The bus had been on the road for less than two hours the morning of the incident.
The NTSB's preliminary investigation turned up a number of factors that easily could become focal points for the agency's formal probe of the crash. These include:
* The drivers operating the bus did not keep a log of their hours of service.
* The driver stated he did not sleep soundly at night, getting up several times a night, each night.
* A medicine kit carried by the driver contained seven prescription drugs and upwards of 20 over-the-counter herbal supplements. The driver said he had taken a high-blood pressure medicine the morning of the crash.
* Many of those killed in the crash appeared to have been crushed by seats that ripped loose from the floor and slammed forward from the force of the impact. It took hours to remove the seats to get to the victims.
* The church did not have a systematic preventative maintenance or inspection program.
One non-safety related aspect of the trip also may be scrutinized. Three of the passengers were not members of the First Baptist Church and did not live in ElDorado. They apparently paid the church to participate in the trip, but the driver said their money was used to cover expenses and that the church did not make a profit.
The United Motorcoach Association has been granted "party status" to the investigation by the NTSB. That means the association will be allowed to participate in a future public hearing on the crash and to question those individuals providing testimony.