BREAKING NEWS: Cruise bus shore excursion crashes in Chile, 11 dead so far.

CNN is covering this live. The passengers were from the Millennium.
Initial reports are that the accident was caused by high speed driving.
Celebrity is saying the tour was an independent tour group.

News story from CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html

--
I'm Tom Smith, and I approved this message.

Thomas Smith wrote:
CNN is covering this live. The passengers were from the Millennium.
Initial reports are that the accident was caused by high speed driving.
Celebrity is saying the tour was an independent tour group.

News story from CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html

Very sad story! There are several threads on cruisecritic Celebrity
boards already, including a list of cruisecritic passengers from the
roll call thread for this sailing.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28

sue

This is tragic. But what's remarkable about this is that there are ~150
cruise ships in constant operation worldwide, yet this is the first
"tragic" news I've seen in a long, long time.

And apparently the bus was not affiliated with a contract excursion.

Ike

I don't think there is a single person in this group who hasn't gotten
on one of these tour busses at one time or another. That being said I
don't think there is one person in this group who hasn't feared for
their life on one of these busses at one time or another. Some of these
drivers scare the hell out of me. I'm sorry this happened. I'm more
surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

RICK DAVIS wrote:

I don't think there is a single person in this group who hasn't gotten
on one of these tour busses at one time or another. That being said I
don't think there is one person in this group who hasn't feared for
their life on one of these busses at one time or another. Some of these
drivers scare the hell out of me. I'm sorry this happened. I'm more
surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

We were on the Costa Riviera in 1997 and were scheduled for a port stop
in Egypt. The day before our scheduled stop, a busload of German
tourists was attacked by terrorists, and all passengers in the bus were
killed. Our captain decided to cancel that port call. We were happy
that he made that decision, but sad that we didn't get to see the
pyramids, etc. Our cruise went on to Israel.
This kind of news is scary!

Ermalee

"Ermalee" wrote in message
...

We were on the Costa Riviera in 1997 and were scheduled for a port stop in
Egypt. The day before our scheduled stop, a busload of German tourists
was attacked by terrorists, and all passengers in the bus were killed.
Our captain decided to cancel that port call. We were happy that he made
that decision, but sad that we didn't get to see the pyramids, etc. Our
cruise went on to Israel.
This kind of news is scary!

Ermalee

It's a small world...we were on the exact same ship in 1997 & I still regret
missing the Egypt stop. We were scheduled to go on the tour to the Cairo
museum & Gisa. We were probably even on the same tour to Jerusalem when we
stopped in Israel ! Where did you leave home from? We were out of a group
from Baltimore.
Rich in Cape Coral

We have used ship tour buses many times,and on several of them i had to
keep my eye's closed because we came so close to the edge of the
mountains,scariest was in puerto rico (ships tour) and the bus had
brakes that did not work as they should,and all the driver did was
laugh about it,and tell us if we were religious to pray.He was reported
when we finally got back to the ship,but were told the bus had been
inspected before hand and was okay to use.

(.a cruise lover.)

In article , RICK DAVIS
wrote:

I don't think there is a single person in this group who hasn't gotten
on one of these tour busses at one time or another. That being said I
don't think there is one person in this group who hasn't feared for
their life on one of these busses at one time or another. Some of these
drivers scare the hell out of me. I'm sorry this happened. I'm more
surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

I was scared for my life in a licenced shuttle from my condo here in DC
to Dulles Airport. The driver kept falling asleep.

It has happened before. Tour buses have been in accidents. Tour bus
accidents have happened in the US. There was one in Jamaica a number of
years ago with cruise passengers on the bus. It is a tragedy. But I am
not going to stay home. Tragedies can happen at home too.

--
Charles

Charles wrote:

In article , RICK DAVIS
wrote:


I don't think there is a single person in this group who hasn't gotten
on one of these tour busses at one time or another. That being said I
don't think there is one person in this group who hasn't feared for
their life on one of these busses at one time or another. Some of these
drivers scare the hell out of me. I'm sorry this happened. I'm more
surprised this hasn't happened sooner.


I was scared for my life in a licenced shuttle from my condo here in DC
to Dulles Airport. The driver kept falling asleep.

It has happened before. Tour buses have been in accidents. Tour bus
accidents have happened in the US. There was one in Jamaica a number of
years ago with cruise passengers on the bus. It is a tragedy. But I am
not going to stay home. Tragedies can happen at home too.


In 1988 we were similarly frightened on an overnight tour bus going from
Germany to Amsterdam. The driver seemed to keep nodding off. I have
fond memories of that trip, but at the time, it was pretty scary.

Ermalee

Lets face it, we all know these vans are not kept in the best condition.
They are run into the ground by the drivers and who knows what the
conditions and laws are to have them inspected. Even then I'm sure a
few $$ will pass any violations found. I'm sure tires are bald, breaks
are bad, drivers who shouldn't be driving. Celebrity was quick to
announce it wasn't one of their tour buses. But its easily could have
been.