Rawlins, Wyo. – A Greyhound bus headed for Denver rolled onto its side on a snowy Interstate 80 early Sunday when the driver was temporarily blinded by snow kicked up by a passing truck, injuring 39 passengers, according to the Highway Patrol.
There were no fatalities, but nine people were admitted to the hospital.
The eastbound bus was carrying 43 passengers, including the driver, and originated in Salt Lake City.
At about 3:30 a.m., the bus went into the median 23 miles east of Rawlins, which is about 150 miles west of Cheyenne, Sgt. Stephen Townsend of the patrol said. The driver attempted to get back on the roadway but overcorrected, causing the bus to turn over on its driver’s side, he said.
The driver, David Soraiz, 51, of Sandy, Utah, told troopers he was blinded by a snow kicked up by a passing semitrailer truck, Townsend said.
“He did the best he could,” said passenger Alton Hooks, of Tacoma, Wash. “He got whited out. He was trying to steer out of it. The road conditions was just terrible.”
The injured were taken to a makeshift triage center set up at a community center and the Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in Rawlins.
Greyhound sent two buses from Denver to retrieve the uninjured and those who could continue the trip, a Greyhound spokeswoman said.
