Fatal crash bus driver was on his first trip
The driver involved a bus crash in Utah on Friday that killed four Chinese tourists, including two from Shanghai, was on his first trip since being employed by a US tour operator, investigators said.
CNN reported Pete Kotowski, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, as saying the driver's background, including his license and and medical history, would be examined.
The American citizen was employed by W & S International Travel Inc, a travel agency based in California. The company's recruitment procedures will also be investigated, CNN reported Kotowski as saying.
The bus, which was manufactured in 2017, has a capacity of 37 passengers.
Wang Jing, an official with the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism, told Shanghai Daily on Monday that some relatives of the victims would be flying to the US on Tuesday.
A 10-strong team of investigators has been at the accident site in south Utah and has talked to passengers. The cause of the accident has yet to be announced.
Fifteen people injured in the crash are in hospital, Shanghai Zhuyuan International Travel Agency said. It said its tour guide, the bus provider, and the bus driver were all licensed.
The tourists are in five hospitals, the travel agency said, adding that it will organize those who have been discharged to return home as soon as possible.
Three women and a man, all in their 60s, died in the crash near a highway rest stop a few miles from the Bryce Canyon National Park.
Two were from Shanghai and the others from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the administration said.
They were on the seventh day of a 16-day trip that would include visits to Yellowstone National Park, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
The group had 29 tourists and one tour guide. Sixteen were from Shanghai, with the rest from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hebei and Heilongjiang provinces.