A bus carrying a church group from Tennessee back to their home in North Carolina recently crashed, killing eight people and injuring 14 others. The automobile accident is believed to have been caused by a blown tire on the bus.
Authorities say the blown tire caused the bus to cross the highway median, drive through cable barriers in the median, clip an oncoming SUV and collide head on with a tractor trailer. The tractor-trailer burst into flames. Even though the bus never caught on fire, rescue workers had to work quickly to get survivors out of the bus because of the heat from the truck’s fire. Six out of the 18 people on the bus were killed, along with the truck driver and one person inside the SUV.
The church group was from the Front Street Baptist Church in Statesville, North Carolina. The group was a senior group that called themselves Young at Heart and was returning to North Carolina from the 17th Annual Fall Jubilee in Gatlinburg. After learning of the accident, many church members met to console each other at the church. According to the wife of the church’s senior pastor, he and another pastor at the church were traveling to accident site. Authorities are still unsure about why the tire blew out on the bus.
Tragic events such as this bus accident can have a huge effect on the lives of many people. As authorities continue to search for the cause of the accident, the victim’s families should be aware of their legal rights to seek compensation for their injuries. If someone’s negligent actions led to the accident, it may be possible for these families to seek compensation for wrongful death, medical expenses, lost pay and other damages caused by the accident.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Tennessee Bus Crash Results In Multiple Deaths“, Steve Megargee and Travis Loller, October 02, 2013