At least four people are dead and at least a dozen critically injured after a tour bus crashed near Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah, officials say.
In a tweet posted just before 2 p.m. ET, Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) said a tour bus had crashed along State Road 12 and that “multiple air ambulances and rescue crews” had been dispatched.
Denise Dastrup, a spokeswoman for the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, told ABC News that 30 people, including the driver, were on board when the bus rolled over.
“Everyone on the bus sustained some sort of injury,” Dastrup said.
According to UHP, between 12 and 15 suffered “very critical injuries.”
In an update tweeted just after 5 p.m. ET, UHP said that 12 to 15 people sustained critical injuries while another 10 to 15 people sustained “various other degrees of injury.”
#SR12BusCrash As of 3:00pm Still 4 fatal injuries and 12-15 critical injuries and another 10-15 of various other degrees of injury. UHP PIO will be on scene around 4:00.
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) September 20, 2019
Further details were not immediately available, including the cause of the crash and the number of people involved, Cpl. Chris Bishop told the Associated Press.
Bishop told Reuters that the passengers were all believed to be from mainland China or Taiwan, as opposed to being U.S. residents.
“This is pretty overwhelming for a little county of 4,900 people,” Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock told KSL-TV, a local NBC affiliate station. “This is just horrible for us, and we feel terrible for those who are injured and their families.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation but weather did not appear to be a factor, state officials said.
In a tweet, Bryce County National Park said State Road 12 is closed in both directions approximately 1.6 kilometres west of the park.
“Please avoid this area to allow emergency crews to respond to this incident,” the tweet reads.
Terry Driedonks, who owns the Bryce Wildlife Adventure Museum near where the incident occurred, told the Salt Lake Tribune her husband was outside and heard the accident.
“He said it was like a horrible thunder,” Driedonks said. “It was terrible.”
Bryce Canyon is known for its distinctive landscape of narrow red-rock spires and is located about 480 kilometers south of Salt Lake City.
-With files from The Associated Press and Reuters
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