Bus Company Involved in Fatal Crash Ordered to Shut Down

One of the company's buses carrying passengers to Tijuana, Mexico, crashed in the San Bernardino Mountains last weekend, killing eight people.

U.S. regulators ordered the immediate shutdown of a tour bus operator involved in a deadly tour bus crash on a mountain road in Southern California last weekend.

The Sunday evening crash killed eight people, including seven tour bus passengers and a pickup driver who was struck by the bus as it careened out of control on Highway 38 near Yucaipa, Calif.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a statement Friday that the buses operated by Scapadas Magicas LLC pose an imminent hazard to public safety.

"Safety is our number one priority, and we will not tolerate unsafe bus companies on our nation's roads," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "We will not allow safety to be compromised."

One of the company's buses was transporting passengers to Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday when it smashed into a sedan, flipped, slammed into a pickup and crashed on a road in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.

A post-crash investigation of the company's two other buses that had been operating in the U.S. found serious mechanical safety violations, regulators said. The buses were immediately placed out of service.

Inspectors said the company also failed to have its vehicles regularly inspected.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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