Tour bus carrying semi-pro Canadian football team collides with SUV in Indiana; 1 killed
Associated Press
06/21/09 8:10 PM EDT
ANGOLA, IND. — A tour bus carrying a semi-professional football team from Canada crashed into a sport utility vehicle in northeastern Indiana on Sunday, killing one person and injuring 14 others.
Angola Fire Department spokesman T.R. Hagerty said 12 people were taken to an Angola hospital with minor injuries after the 11:30 a.m. crash and two others were airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital with serious injuries.
Hagerty said the crash along Interstate 69 killed an occupant of the SUV, which was engulfed in flames, and injured several members of the London Silverbacks of London, Ontario.
He said the team members suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious but none appeared life-threatening. The crash occurred about 40 miles north of Fort Wayne.
Silverbacks assistant head coach Jason Kenemy told The Canadian Press that the injured include team owner Alan Lazar, who was airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital in critical but stable condition but is expected to recover.
The Canadian Press reported that the southbound SUV blew a tire, crossed the median and collided head-on with the northbound bus, killing the SUV's driver.
Minutes after the crash, an Indiana National Guard unit discovered the crash scene along Interstate 69, Hagerty said.
He said the soldiers, who were traveling home from drills at Fort Carson, Mich., helped the injured football players from the tour bus.
"They helped us a lot. They helped us getting equipment and getting patients packaged and carried up to the ambulance," Hagerty said.
