CLE ELUM, Wash. — One of the most seriously injured survivors of a bus crash that killed two people near Cle Elum is in satisfactory condition.
Twenty-four-year old Jeffrey R. Irmer of Spokane was standing on the side of Interstate 90 Saturday evening when a tour bus slammed into his pickup and rolled onto its side. Two people in the tour bus were killed, 51-year-old Ciro R. Astudillo and 45-year-old Virginia Ocamposoriano, both of Pasco.
Irmer was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a broken leg. A nursing supervisor said he was in satisfactory condition Sunday.
Washington State Patrol Lt. Scott Martin says 21 people were injured, including a woman and a toddler in a third car that was involved, but most of those injuries were minor.
Just after 6 p.m. Saturday, the bus started changing lanes to avoid the disabled pickup in the right shoulder, but a passenger car was in the left lane, said Lt. Scott Martin of the Washington State Patrol.
Martin said both the bus and car then swerved to avoid each other, both rolling in the process.
"The bus ended up striking the pick-up that was on the shoulder and the bus rolled onto its side," said Martin.
The car crossed into the center median and crashed.
Witness Paul Jimenez, who was heading westbound toward Seattle, said he drove up to the scene just moments later and witnessed the chaos.
"I thought, 'Oh my God, this is bad,'" he said. "There was no traffic back-up so I knew it just happened."
"I saw people crawling out from underneath the bus, or being dragged out, I saw people coming out from the top... and places I couldn't see."
The bus was carrying soccer fans home following a match in Seattle.
The accident happened near Cle Elum, about 60 miles northwest of Yakima.
"People were hugging and crying and hugging each other," Jimenez said. "It's kind of shocking, I'm still a little bit in shock right now."
A total of 21 people were injured in the collision. Nine patients with mild to moderate injuries were transported to Kittitas Valley Community Hospital in Ellensburg, while 11 victims with minor injuries went to a triage center, also in Ellensburg.
State troopers shut down eastbound traffic and reduced westbound traffic on I-90 to one lane as they investigated. Traffic was being diverted through Cle Elum as of just before midnight Sunday.
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