Bus crash treated as mass-casualty incident
Emergency responders handling the crash early Sunday involving a tour bus and sport utility vehicle on Interstate 70 in Washington treated it as a mass-casualty incident to make sure the necessary equipment and personnel were available to take care of victims.
Police said the tour bus, driven by Zhuzai Dop, was going west on the highway at the Jefferson Avenue interchange about 4:30 a.m. when a sport utility vehicle driven by Killian Duncan, 23, of Wayne, veered out of the left lane into the bus, which was in the right lane. The bus rolled onto its side, and Dop, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected.
Washington firefighter Chuck Norigat said when firefighters arrived, the bus was flipped on its side, and all the passengers were out of it and off to the side. Dop, who was the most seriously injured, was flown to UPMC-Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh.
Norigat said the personnel in the first ambulance initiated the mass-casualty plan.
The county developed a mass-casualty incident plan several years ago following another crash on I-70 near the Jessop Place exit in Canton Township that involved 17 vehicles, said Ron Sicchitano, assistant director of Washington County Emergency Services.
He said the plan is put into use any time there is the potential for a significant number of injuries. Sicchitano said the county also has a separate plan for dealing with mass fatalities.
“It would happen for anything where there would a number of victims, including a structure fire or a building collapse,” Sicchitano said. “We used it when there was a crash on Interstate 79 near Lone Pine that involved a number of vehicles.”
Ambulance services, which also are required to have a similar plan for mass casualties, provide vehicles so as to not leave other areas short of responders in the event of another emergency. Sicchitano said about 20 ambulances responded, but not all were used because crews were able to double up the number of patients transported. Several ambulances remained on standby because of a fire at a plant in South Strabane Township, but they were released when it was determined the situation was under control, Sicchitano added.
Local hospitals also were notified, and the county sent its mass-casualty trailer to the scene.
State police Trooper Matthew Jardine, public information officer for Troop B, said of the 23 passengers on the bus, 17 were transported to Washington Hospital and six were taken to Canonsburg Hospital. He said most suffered scratches, cuts and bruises.
Duncan, who was not injured, will be cited by state police with careless driving and improper lane change. Dop will be cited for failing to wear a seat belt. The coach bus, owned by Luxury Coach LTD of Durham, N.C., will be checked by state police motor carrier inspectors for possible mechanical failures and safety compliance. The bus company will be cited if any violations are discovered during the inspection.