By
The Associated Press
CHINLE, Ariz. - A bus carrying high school students to a band competition drove off the road in a heavy fog and flipped over on the Navajo reservation, killing an adult chaperon, police and school officials said.
The Chinle Unified School District bus, which was en route to a band competition in Las Vegas, had 37 people on board when it drove off U.S. 191 Friday, about 15 miles south of Chinle. No other vehicles were involved, said Navajo police spokesman Capt. Francis Bradley.
He said there was a heavy fog at the time of the morning crash but couldn't say whether it played a role in the accident. The Arizona Department of Public Safety was investigating.
Bradley said Vestina Tso, 20, of Chinle, was killed. Her sister is a member of the band, said Lt. Ivan Tsosie of the Navajo Department of Public Safety.
Tsosie attributed part of the cause of the crash to poor visibility, snow on the ground, and the possibility of black ice on the roadway.
Tsosie said he was told by students that the southbound bus left the roadway and that the driver "tried to overcorrect and the bus flipped one or more times."
While the driver only had minor injuries, a 32-year-old man was flown from the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque where he remained in serious condition Friday night.
Another patient was taken to an undisclosed hospital and the patient's condition is still unknown.
Hospital officials said about 33 other people were treated for minor injuries and most would likely be released.
Ten victims were taken to the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility in Chinle, eight with minor injuries, said hospital CEO Ronald Tso.
Twenty-six people were taken to Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, said hospital CEO Mel Patashnick, who described the bulk of the injuries as minor. Patashnick said only one girl, who suffered a concussion, stayed overnight.
"The kids are pretty shaken up. It's a traumatic situation but physically they're OK," said Patashnick.
District Supt. Phillip Bluehouse said parents were being asked to pick up their children at the Chinle Community Center.
Chinle is about 229 miles northeast of Phoenix.
