Bus crash victims' families pack for U.S.

BEIJING, Feb. 2 -- Family members of some of the

Chinese tourists killed or injured in a bus accident in Arizona on Friday are

expected to leave for the United States Tuesday armed with a lawyer and a

doctor.

They will be accompanied by members of local

government and travel agencies, said Cheng Meihong, deputy director of the

Shanghai Tourism Administration.

The accident caused the death of seven people: Six

were Chinese nationals, including one from the Hong Kong Special Administrative

Region, and the seventh was a Chinese tour guide with a U.S. passport, a

spokesman with the administration said, quoting the list provided by the Chinese

Consulate General in Los Angeles.

Eight other Chinese nationals were injured when the

tour bus crashed just south of the Hoover Dam following a visit to the Grand

Canyon, an optional trip not included in the basic tour package. Five members of

the group skipped the trip.

The collision occurred when the group's bus veered to

the right of the northbound lanes of Highway 93, overcorrected, and darted

across the desert median before hitting oncoming traffic, according to the Las

Vegas Review-Journal.

Shanghai has set up a task force headed by Vice-Mayor

Zhao Wen to handle the investigation into the accident, in collaboration with

the Consulate General in Los Angeles.

"The passports will be issued Tuesday and the airline

has reserved seats for them," Cheng said.

The China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd (CPIC) has

paid 1.85 million yuan (270,000 U.S. dollars) to families of the six dead from

the mainland and Hong Kong, according to the CPIC Shanghai Branch.

(Source: CRI.com)

7 Chinese tourists confirmed dead in bus crash near Las Vegas:

official

Officials work at the scene of the

tour bus accident that left seven Chinese tourists dead on US-93 near

Dolan Springs, Arizona Jan. 30, 2009.
(Chinese media/Reuters

Photo)
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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Seven Chinese tourists

have been killed in a tour bus accident near the Hoover Dam in Arizona, with at

least seven others seriously injured, a spokesman of the Chinese Consulate here

confirmed Saturday.

The accident occurred Friday afternoon when the tour bus

traveling to Las Vegas overturned on U.S. 93 highway about 40 kilometers south

of the Hoover Dam, according to Chen Shijie of the Chinese Consulate. Full story

A spokesperson of the Shanghai Donghu

International Travel Service talks to reporters at the company in Shanghai

Feb. 1, 2009. (Chinese media Photo)
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People of the Shanghai Donghu

International Travel Service holds an urgent meeting at the company in

Shanghai Feb. 1, 2009. Shanghai Tourism Administration published Sunday

the names of seven Chinese nationals killed and eight injured in Friday's

bus crash on a highway near the Hoover Dam of Arizona in the United

States. The victims were all members of a tour group organized by the

Shanghai Donghu International Travel Service.(Chinese media Photo)
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