ACCIDENT * USA - Authorities begin interviewing bus crash survivors

Houston,TX,USA -The Houston Chronicle, by DANE SCHILLER, TERRI LANGFORD & JAMES PINKERTON -Aug. 10, 2008: -- Authorities began interviewing survivors Sunday to try to re-create the scene of the deadly charter bus crashed on U.S. 75 Friday that claimed the lives of 17 member of Houston's Vietnamese Catholic community... Among other items, they're trying to figure out where passengers were sitting and whether anyone was able to evacuate, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said at an afternoon press conference... They said they haven't yet been able to interview the driver of the bus, 52-year-old Barrett Broussard, who remains in critical condition at Wilson N. Jones Medical Center in Sherman... A dozen people died at the scene on U.S. 75 on their way to an annual religious festival in Missouri. Five others have died at hospitals, including two deaths Saturday. More than 30 others remain hospitalized in the Dallas area, including at least 11 in critical condition... (Photo by Paul Moseley Fort Worth Star-Telegram - NTSB Senior Investigator David Rayburn examines the bus debris on Sunday in Sherman)


* Bus industry analysts urge action after crashes

New York,NY,USA -Forbes/Associated Press, by SAMANTHA BOMKAMP -11 Aug 2008: -- In the wake of recent bus accidents in Mississippi, Nevada and Texas that killed and injured dozens, industry observers are urging broader safety measures... "I keep thinking that each one of these accidents is going to be the tipping point to spur progress in Washington," said Jim Hall, a safety analyst and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "We continue to see an urgent need for safety improvements in the industry"... Hall, who was chairman of the board from 1994 until 2001, said the bus industry is in dire need of renewed and stricter safety measures, including seatbelts, stronger roof structures that would prevent collapse and "glazing" designed to prevent passengers from falling out of windows in a crash... He said the NTSB has made many attempts in recent decades to improve bus safety, and believes some of the inaction toward improving safety for bus travel is "class-based"...


* 'Grossly deficient' upkeep was a factor in fatal North Texas bus crash

Dallas,TX,USA -The Dallas Morning News, by RICHARD ABSHIRE & MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER -August 11, 2008: -- An unlicensed bus company's "grossly deficient vehicle maintenance" contributed to Friday's crash in Sherman that killed 17 people, federal authorities said Sunday... The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also took the rare step of declaring the Houston company an "imminent hazard" to public safety and ordered its owner to cease all commercial operations immediately... A shutdown order that preceded the crash applied only to interstate operations and only to another of owner Angel De La Torre's bus companies... Mr. De La Torre has not responded to interview requests, and his attorney has declined to comment... The authorities said his companies, Angel Tours and Iguala Busmex, violated rules in several ways, including by using retreaded front tires and not regularly inspecting vehicles...