#246477 - 05/31/12 12:28 PM
Accident in Canyon de Chelly
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Geezer in Chief
Geezer
Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
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I was horrified to read this. Very familiar country, and a tough place to conduct emergency and rescue operations.
Today's Report | Recent Editions
Thursday, May 31, 2012
INCIDENTS
Canyon De Chelly National Monument (AZ)
Weekend Accident Kills One, Injures Four
On Sunday, May 27th, an accident involving a motorized truck tour left one man dead and seriously injured four others at Canyon de Chelly National Monument near Chinle, Az. Richard Crowe, 60, a resident of Hawaii, died in the accident which occurred shortly after noon in the upper Del Muerto Canyon section of the national monument. He was among 13 passengers and a driver aboard a tour truck when the vehicle left the road and rolled down an embankment. Four other people were airlifted to Flagstaff and San Juan Hospitals. The remaining passengers were treated locally and released. The tour truck belonged to Thunderbird Lodge, an independent concessions operation at the park. The accident site is in a remote section of the park about 16 miles into the backcountry, and emergency communications were limited. National Park Service staff, Navajo police, the Apache County sheriff, Indian Health Service, and search and rescue from Chinle, Ganado, and Kayenta responded to the accident. Five helicopters and six ambulances were dispatched to the scene. The tour truck involved in the accident is a Korean War-vintage, 6-wheel drive truck with an open rear seating area. The Apache County Sheriff Office is leading the investigation. NPS rangers and the Navajo police are assisting with the accident investigation, which is currently ongoing. While the accident is being investigated, the upper portion of Del Muerto Canyon in Canyon de Chelly National Monument remains closed to tour companies above Twin Trails. The NPS has also suspended all Thunderbird Lodge motorized tour operations pending safety inspections of the concessioner's vehicles.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief
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#246486 - 06/01/12 01:37 AM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: hikermor]
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Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3238
Loc: Alberta, Canada
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Nasty business. The toll was high.
Not meaning to be inappropriate, but from the description I have to say I'm surprised that there weren't more injuries.
I would be interested to see some good links. I'm always interested in how people at the scene respond to something like this. Especially in situations where communications are sketchy.
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#246500 - 06/01/12 12:36 PM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: Richlacal]
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Addict
Registered: 12/25/03
Posts: 410
Loc: Jupiter, FL
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A detailed personal account with lots of pictures can be found here. More pictures are here but lots of pop-up ads and ad audio.
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#246505 - 06/01/12 02:52 PM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: hikermor]
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Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3238
Loc: Alberta, Canada
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Thanks for the links.
Mechanical failure appears to be the cause. The blogger (first link above) took pictures of the undercarriage of the truck. It was flipped right over, pinning all but five of the passengers. Yikes.
"A gentleman from the other tour was a mechanic and he held up the tie rod, showing that it was missing the nut and cotter pin, thus the driver had no control of his steering."
It's heartening to hear how people pitched in to help. Also, it's instructive that having a trained person present (retired army medic) was important in organizing the initial response of the people on scene.
Edited by dougwalkabout (06/01/12 02:56 PM)
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#246511 - 06/01/12 07:27 PM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: dougwalkabout]
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Addict
Registered: 12/25/03
Posts: 410
Loc: Jupiter, FL
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When I saw this, I thought two things. I'm glad that little McMerdo FastFind 210 PLB is so small that I don't think twice about carrying it anytime I go anywhere near off the grid. Second, I now do not think that cribbing course I took during CERT training a few years ago was so silly after all.
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#246519 - 06/02/12 01:02 AM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: hikermor]
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Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3238
Loc: Alberta, Canada
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Looking at the photos, my first thought was: where are the jacks? These are heavy, heavy vehicles. There's a jack on the overturned truck, and a jack on the second tour truck. With a few short lumber scraps, these would help to stabilize the vehicle -- at least on one side of the box -- so that rescuers could take some of the crushing pressure off the people who are trapped, and allow careful digging under the survivors, facilitating some very cautious and careful extrication.
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#246521 - 06/02/12 01:30 AM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: celler]
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Geezer in Chief
Geezer
Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
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The Thunderbird Lodge has been running trucks of the type (modified Army deuce and a halfs) that wrecked for decades in the canyon without significant incidents and they have been very useful in traveling through de Chelly and del Muerto in all conditions. over the years they have been the most capable and versaatile vehicle running in the Canyon. There is nothing particularly hazardous about that stretch of road just below Mummy Cave, the turn around point for the usual trip up del Muerto Canyon - I, and others, have driven it many times without incident. One could speculate about mechanical failure, perhaps accelerated by wear from traveling in the silt laden waters of the canyon.
Interesting and gratifying response by civilians to this incident, despite having no steel toed boots or background checks (That is a backhanded response to Paramedic Pete's comment in the thread on "CERT expectations." Pete has a point, but I think this incident is a perfect example of why, when it hits the fan, you have to relax standards just a bit and simply cope.) It is quite surprising to me how often trained, often highly trained medical people seem to just pop up out of the woodwork at an incident.
Doubtless tours will be suspended for some time.
_________________________
Geezer in Chief
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#246606 - 06/04/12 04:46 AM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: hikermor]
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Stranger
Registered: 06/01/12
Posts: 4
Loc: maharastra,mumbai
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I was horrified to read this. Very familiar country, and a tough place to conduct emergency and rescue operations.
Today's Report | Recent Editions
Thursday, May 31, 2012
INCIDENTS
Canyon De Chelly National Monument (AZ)
Weekend Accident Kills One, Injures Four
On Sunday, May 27th, an accident involving a motorized truck tour left one man dead and seriously injured four others at Canyon de Chelly National Monument near Chinle, Az. Richard Crowe, 60, a resident of Hawaii, died in the accident which occurred shortly after noon in the upper Del Muerto Canyon section of the national monument. He was among 13 passengers and a driver aboard a tour truck when the vehicle left the road and rolled down an embankment. Four other people were airlifted to Flagstaff and San Juan Hospitals. The remaining passengers were treated locally and released. The tour truck belonged to Thunderbird Lodge, an independent concessions operation at the park. The accident site is in a remote section of the park about 16 miles into the backcountry, and emergency communications were limited. National Park Service staff, Navajo police, the Apache County sheriff, Indian Health Service, and search and rescue from Chinle, Ganado, and Kayenta responded to the accident. Five helicopters and six ambulances were dispatched to the scene. The tour truck involved in the accident is a Korean War-vintage, 6-wheel drive truck with an open rear seating area. The Apache County Sheriff Office is leading the investigation. NPS rangers and the Navajo police are assisting with the accident investigation, which is currently ongoing. While the accident is being investigated, the upper portion of Del Muerto Canyon in Canyon de Chelly National Monument remains closed to tour companies above Twin Trails. The NPS has also suspended all Thunderbird Lodge motorized tour operations pending safety inspections of the concessioner's vehicles. I really feel very bad after read this accident report. As per my opinion government must be make a strong rule for the riding and it is a very important to follow rule by the drivers. What do you think for this problem and what we should do to avoid cause of accident.
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#246621 - 06/04/12 04:32 PM
Re: Accident in Canyon de Chelly
[Re: hikermor]
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Addict
Registered: 11/24/05
Posts: 478
Loc: Orange Beach, AL
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At this point I don't believe there has been any information presented to indicate that anyone (vendor or patrons) violated any rules. The news I read stated that the truck appeared to have experienced a mechanical failure. Unless the investigation reveals some sort of neglect in regards to the maintenance of the truck then I'm not sure that anything should be done.
_________________________
"There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother." -Theodore Roosevelt
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