Local News

UPDATE: Word from the driver . Bus crashes in Gallatin Canyon

Posted: Feb 5, 2013 2:48 PM by KBZK Media Center
Updated: Feb 5, 2013 8:14 PM

UPDATE: KBZK talked to the bus driver tonight, and he tells us MHP told him they will hold any ticket until they've reviewed the videos from the bus, looking for causes, including any mechanical failure.

The driver is on crutches, with a knee injury and bruises. He says he's thankful for everybody who stopped to help. He tells us he's been a commercial driver for over twenty years, and if he gets a citation, this would be his first.

UPDATE: The driver of a tour bus that crashed in the Gallatin Canyon has been taken to the hospital.

The driver was heading south on Highway 191 when he failed to negotiate a curve and lost control of the bus, crashing into a boulder, according to a Montana Highway Patrol trooper. The driver was the only person on the bus at the time of the crash.

The driver was extricated from the vehicle and transported to the hospital as a precaution.

Traffic was backed up on Highway 191 in the canyon for about 45 miles in both directions, the trooper said.

A Gallatin County Sheriff's deputy was also on scene.

GALLATIN GATEWAY - Emergency officials are responding to a crash involving a bus in Gallatin Canyon.

The crash happened at around 1:52 p.m. at mile marker 66 on Highway 191, according to the Montana Highway Patrol website.

Few details are known at this time, but information from the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department indicates that the bus crashed into a guardrail and that the driver was the only person on the bus at the time it crashed.

We will post more information as we receive it.