11 People Hospitalized When Semi Rear-Ends Tour Bus

Eleven people were taken to hospitals after a tour bus was rear-ended by a semi in Mayes County early Thursday. <br/>

Thursday, August 14th 2014, 8:21 am

By: Dave Davis

11 People Hospitalized When Semi Rear-Ends Tour Bus

A group of 37 people is on their way back home after eleven were taken to Tulsa hospitals after their tour bus was rear-ended by a semi in Mayes County early Thursday. The passengers are safe now, but the scary experience is something they will remember for a long time.

The crash took place near U.S. Highway 69 on 540 Road at a railroad crossing between Pryor and Chouteau. By 6:30 a.m, only one of the southbound lanes of U.S. 69 was open.

Pedro Alva Jr. said he was sleeping on the bus when he was jolted awake by chaos.

"I heard people crying, you know screaming. Smoke coming in from the back....uh a nightmare. A nightmare,” Alva said.

He was one of 37 people, including five children, who were on the bus, according to OHP. They were headed from Chicago to, eventually, Monterrey Mexico.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said truck driver Jimmy Griner, 45, of Wyandotte, was southbound Highway 69 around 3:30 a.m. when it crashed into a tour bus that was attempting to stop at a railroad crossing.

Griner was pinned for 40 minutes and had to be freed with the Jaws of Life and flown to a hospital in critical condition.

Thirty-seven Mexican citizens were on the bus, some went to hospitals with injuries but no one was seriously hurt and they were all eventually released.

The Mayes County Emergency Manager said in mass injury situations, it's important not to overload one hospital; so about half of the patients were treated in Mayes County, the other half in Tulsa.

The Red Cross also stepped in to help, converting a Pryor Community Center into a shelter.

Red Cross Communications Director, Kurt Gwartney said, "Just within a couple of hours of the phone call to the Red Cross, we had this shelter operational, open and running and ready to help people."

Passengers, like Alva, are headed back home, but he and the others won't forget the ordeal for a long time.

"Right, this lady right now, she's still in shock. She says her mind just keeps, like a recorder, playing it back. Over and over and over and over," he said.

Southbound Highway 69, from Pryor to Chouteau was closed or narrowed for hours Thursday morning, while crews worked to repair a hole in the road left behind from the collision.

The Highway Patrol is still investigating the cause of the crash.