MyongSool Chang & HyunAh Park
Translated by SoYeon Lee


A bus carrying Korean tourists was on its way to Boston from Quebec, Canada when it slid on the snow and overturned,. 17 passengers were injured.

According to the New Hampshire State Police, on March 21 around 8pm, a tour bus that carried 25 Korean tourists rolled over on Interstate 93 in Littleton, just before the exit.

The driver lost the control of bus due to fallen snow on the 21st. The bus lost its balance and rolled over toward the median strip.

One of the Korean tourists, Ji-Young Won (Vancouver resident) said, “it was snowing a lot when the bus was ready to get on the road. The bus slipped a few times so the driver slowed down the speed as he tried to stop the bus. But I felt the bus tilting and it finally overturned.”

17 injured passengers were sent to near Littleton Regional Hospital. They were taken to New York after the exam. They are scheduled to be retested in a hospital in New York said the tour agency. 3 passengers who are more seriously injured were sent to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center was examined on the 22nd.

The owner of the bus, PRtour USA’s travel guide, Jung said, “4 people need more treatments. Fortunately, there is no life-threatening situation. The rest are minor injuries, and those remaining will go to New York. Our first priority is the customers health, we will adjust future schedule after seeing how current situation turns out.”

The day after the accident, Korean Consul from Boston, Chul-Hee Lee, visited the patients at Hampton Inn in Littleton and near hospital to check the status of the patients.

The bus had to wait for 4 hours at the Canadian border when a passenger was refused of entry and the delay seemed to contribute to the bus accident, according to an interview. Snow started to fall heavily after 4 pm. And the accident occurred as the bus drove on icy road.

One of the tourists, Kim (Kyunggido resident, 50) explained the situation. “I was very anxious. It was very dark outside. I didn’t feel well when I saw tremendous amount of snow while we were waiting at the Canadian border for 4 hours. So I gave my wife her passport, and tied my shoes tightly.

Also, I thought we might have a late dinner if an accident was to happen so my wife and I took vitamins.”

Even though the accident was a relatively minor incident, it injured several people since the vehicle was not equipped with safety belts. When the passengers were looking for safety belts as a lot of snow fell, the vehicle was defenseless without the belts.

Ha (Kyunggido,54), who had suffered a relatively serious injury said, “since there is no seat belt, people bumped with people sitting across when the bus turned over. Perhaps if there were seat belts, we would not have been hurt this serious.”

Meanwhile, the overturned bus leaked oil which blocked Highway 93 for awhile. Most of the 25 passengers were Korean tourists who were on a tour of Northeastern regions in America and Canada.

ⓒ 보스톤코리아(http://www.bostonkorea.com), 무단전재 및 재배포 금지