SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Latest on a tour bus crash near a national park in Utah that killed at least 4 (all times local):
7:45 p.m.
Five people remain in critical condition after a bus crash that killed four Chinese tourists and injured dozens more near a national park in Utah.
Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Street said Friday evening that the bus originated in Southern California, and the tourists on board were natives of mainland China.
Up to 15 people suffered injuries that were originally considered very critical, but the condition of several passengers has improved in the hours since the crash.
Authorities are investigating what caused the bus to careen into a guard rail Friday morning on highway winding through otherworldly spires of red rock near Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.
The names and hometowns of the victims were not immediately released.
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2:50 p.m.
Authorities say they expect the number of people injured in a deadly tour bus crash near a national park in Utah to rise.
The Utah Highway Patrol tweeted Friday that 12 to 15 people suffered "very critical injuries." Cpl. Chris Bishop later said the agency expects the number to be higher and that victims were sent to three hospitals.
One of them, Intermountain Garfield Memorial Hospital, says it's received 17 patients.
A spokesman for the small hospital in the tiny town of Panguitch tweeted that three people are in critical condition, 11 in serious condition and three in fair condition.
Lance Madigan says Intermountain has sent two helicopters and two planes to help transport victims.
Bishop says patients also are being taken to Cedar City and St. George.
The highway patrol says the bus was carrying 30 people, primarily Chinese-speaking tourists.
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2:10 p.m.
Authorities say a tour bus crash near a national park in southern Utah has killed four people and critically injured up to 15 others.
The Utah Highway Patrol said Friday that the bus was carrying 30 people, primarily Chinese-speaking tourists.
The agency says 12 to 15 people suffered "very critical injuries" in the morning crash near a highway rest stop about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Bryce Canyon is known for its distinctive landscape of narrow red rock spires and is located about 300 miles (480 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.
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12:50 p.m.
Officials say a tour bus has crashed near a national park in southern Utah, killing at least four people.
Utah Highway Patrol troopers said Friday that the crash on a highway near Bryce Canyon National Park also left a number of people seriously injured.
Cpl. Chris Bishop says the crash was reported Friday morning, but he did not immediately have further details on the cause or the number of people involved.
Bryce Canyon is known for its distinctive landscape of narrow red-rock spires and is about 300 miles (480 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.
