27 Die, 30 Hurt as Church Bus, Truck Collide

CARROLLTON, Ky. —  A crowded church bus burst into flame when it was struck head-on by a pickup truck traveling on the wrong side of an interstate highway late Saturday, killing 27 people, most of them teen-agers.

Distraught parents clutching medical and dental records made a grim pilgrimage here Sunday to identify the victims of the fiery crash, who were heading home from an amusement park.

The collision, one of the worst bus accidents in U.S. history, injured more than 30 others, many of them burned or suffering from smoke inhalation. At least eight were listed in critical condition in area hospitals.

Truck Driver Injured

Among those seriously hurt was the driver of the truck, identified by officials as 34-year-old Larry W. Mahoney of nearby Worthville, Ky., who was driving north in the southbound lane of Interstate 71 about 40 miles northeast of Louisville.

Trooper Glenn Walton, a spokesman for the Kentucky State Police, said it was not known why Mahoney was driving on the wrong side of the divided highway. No charges have been filed, although Mahoney’s blood has been tested for alcohol content, Walton said. He declined comment on the results of the test.

Returning From Outing

The 11-year-old bus, owned by the First Assembly of God Church in Radcliff, Ky., was packed with 67 youngsters and adult chaperones when it was hit. The group was returning from a daylong outing at the Kings Island Amusement Park near Cincinnati. Radcliff, about 35 miles south of Louisville and 75 miles from the accident scene, is adjacent to Ft. Knox. Many of the youngsters on board were children of military personnel.

On Sunday morning, military vans ferried about 60 sobbing, grief-stricken relatives of the children to Carrollton, where the charred bus with its victims still inside had been towed to a National Guard armory.

Dr. George Nichols, the Kentucky state medical examiner, met privately with the family members at a nearby motel and said he would not let them view the scorched remains.

“The picture they want to keep of their children is not what’s in that room, it’s in their wallets and in their minds,” Nichols explained to reporters later.

Officials said that many of the bodies were so badly burned that they could be positively identified only through dental records. The only roster of those on the bus was destroyed in the fire, further complicating the identification process.

Although the names of the dead will not be released until at least today, Nichols said that most of the victims were teen-agers and 19 of them appeared to be female. He said it appeared that most of the victims died as they were struggling to make their way to the back of the bus to escape the flames.

One survivor, Juan Holt, said he heard a “boom” and then loud crying broke out all around him. “I had people set a dead person on me,” Holt said. “I was just trying to get out. I stopped breathing. I said, ‘Jesus.’ ”

Wayne Cox, 14, whose hair was singed and shirt charred in the blaze, said that the flames spread quickly after the crash. “I was pinned,” he said. “Everything was pretty wild. I was under a lot of people. That’s probably what saved me from getting burned.”

Flames Spread Quickly

Survivors said that the flames began in the front of the bus but spread quickly to the back where youngsters were struggling to get out the back door and windows.

Patrick Presley, a truck driver who was one of the first on the scene, told the Associated Press that a secondary explosion after the initial impact cut off the escape route for many of the children.

Carroll County Coroner James Dunn said that the gas tank, which had been filled just before the accident, may have burst on impact, spraying fuel over the passengers. Whatever happened, Walton said, it was clear that flames eventually engulfed the entire bus. “Not one part of it was untouched,” he said. “Inside, outside.”

Jason Booher, 13, said that he and high-school student Jamie Hardesty pulled other survivors out of the blazing vehicle. “Jamie, he pushed everyone out,” Booher said. “He was up in the bus and I was out the back door of the bus, helping those who were hurt.”

Among those killed was the driver of the bus. Authorities declined to release his name, but the Rev. Don Tennison of the 600-member First Assembly Church identified the driver as his associate pastor, John Pearman. Tennison said that the church bought the 66-passenger bus two years ago from a school district.

Although he did not know precisely who was on the bus, Tennison said most of those on board were between 12 and 17 years old. In addition, four adults were on board, including the youth director of the church, who was killed in the crash, Tennison said.

He said that the outing to Kings Island is an annual event for youngsters at the church.

Tennison, who met with parents of the victims in Carrollton, said that most of them appeared to be in shock. “But at the same time they’re praying for one another and rallying together,” he said.

When asked how he had consoled his parishioners, Tennison said: “You just have to love them and encourage them and let them know we’re all hurting and even God is hurting.”

A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said that a team of investigators was en route to Carrollton to look into the accident. Although the crash ranked as one of the deadliest ever involving a bus, there are two U.S, crashes in which more people died, records indicate. Thirty-two farmworkers died in 1963 when a bus collided with a train near Salinas, Calif.; and a school bus carrying 53 Yuba City, Calif., high school students plunged off a freeway ramp near Martinez in 1976, killing 28 students and a teacher.