Bus crash victim's relative demands action
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009; 5:14 PM
A relative of one of the Vietnamese American church members who died in a high-profile Texas bus crash last year is demanding action from Congress on pending bus safety legislation.
The National Transportation Safety Board opened a hearing Tuesday into the Aug. 8, 2008, rollover crash that killed 17 people and injured 39 in Sherman, Tex. The accident is one of a string of deadly U.S. bus crashes in recent years. The accidents have renewed calls for expanded federal oversight of the country's commercial bus industry.
"We've all been devastated and are dealing with the aftermath of a crash that was totally preventable," said Yen-Chi Le of Houston, who lost her 62-year-old mother in the crash and attended the NTSB hearing. Le's mother, Catherine Tuong Lam, immigrated to the United States in 1975 from Vietnam, where she had worked as an interpreter for a U.S. military contractor.
The charter bus, with 55 passengers, departed Houston bound for a Catholic festival in Carthage, Mo. Four and a half hours into the trip, the bus's right front tire blew as the vehicle approached a curve on a bridge. The bus slammed into a railing and fell eight feet into a creek.
On Tuesday, NTSB investigators said a slow leak left the bus's tires severely underinflated, causing the blowout. Safety board members criticized Texas regulators for lax oversight of the state's commercial vehicle inspection system, which conducts required federal safety checks. NTSB investigators also found that the driver tested positive for cocaine and alcohol use.
