By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
A tourist bus with 31 people aboard veered off a mountain road, killing 14 passengers and injuring 17 others, police reported Wednesday. The death toll is expected to rise as most of the passengers were elderly and the vehicle was severely crushed, police said. Many of the injured are in a serious condition, they added.
According to police, the chartered bus skidded off the road and fell nearly 30 meters from a narrow, curving road that passes through mountainous areas in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, at around 5:40 p.m.
Those aboard ㅡ members of a welfare center for the aged ㅡ were on their way back from a spa in Gyeongju, one of the nation’s most popular tourist attractions.
Rescuers at the scene said the damage to the bus was severe with a third of the bus impacted into the passenger compartment and bumpers at the front and the rear of the vehicle shattered.
Shortly after the accident, more than 240 rescuers, 25 ambulances, dozens of heavy equipment vehicles were rushed to the scene to retrieve survivors and recover bodies.
``When I arrived at the scene, all windows of the bus remained shattered and a couple of bleeding passengers were found outside the bus,’’ Yonhap News Agency quoted a rescuer at the scene as saying. ``The scene inside the bus was heartrending. Bleeding survivors were mixed with the deceased.’’
Police said they have launched an investigation to determine the exact cause of the accident.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr
