Chartered buses serve many purposes throughout the nation. It is not uncommon for them to be used in tourism to transport a large group of people from site to site. Earlier this month, one of these buses being used to get visitors from "Sin City" to the Grand Canyon, was involved in a fatal accident.

As many residents of the Pittsburgh area visit that portion of the country each day, at any given time it is possible that individuals on buses such as this one are from Pennsylvania.

Authorities indicate the trip to the Grand Canyon was without incident. On the way back to Las Vegas however, the individual behind the wheel of the bus lost control of the large vehicle. This caused the bus to leave the road and continue to travel over rough terrain for another 700 feet before it came to rest off of Highway 93. At the time of the incident there were approximately 50 people on board.

The cause of the driver's loss of control is believed to be a medical episode, possibly a heart attack. Sadly the man died.

48 of the remaining passengers on the bus suffered some type of injury. Several of them were taken to hospitals via helicopters. The prognosis of those individuals is not known.

This crash could have been much worse. When vehicles transporting so many people are involved in motor vehicle accidents the odds of serious injuries or even death increases. This in turn often leads to personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.

Source: Houston Chronicle, "1 dead, 6 seriously injured in Arizona bus crash," Julie Jacobson, Oct. 20, 2012