Several injured
in tour bus crashThe vehicle flipped over on
the Likelike Highway
A driver and up to a dozen passengers on a Paradise Discovered tour bus were injured late yesterday when the bus flipped on its side on the Likelike Highway.
The Honolulu Fire Department was called to the town-bound side of the Wilson Tunnel, near Likelike's intersection with Valley View Drive at 10:30 p.m., said Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada.
When firefighters arrived, all 36 passengers on the bus had been able to help each other out of emergency escape hatches in the roof of the bus, Tejada said. Emergency workers removed the driver through the front windshield, he said.
The driver and six passengers with serious injuries were taken to Queen's and Kuakini hospitals by ambulance, Tejada said.
Another half-dozen passengers with minor injuries, who were able to walk and talk, were transported on a city bus to a hospital, he said.
The remaining passengers were returned to their hotel in another Paradise Discovered bus.
A police officer at the scene said the bus occupants were all from Japan and were on a Polynesian Hospitality tour.
Tejada said he wasn't sure whether the group was returning from the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, but noted that is usually where tour buses have been at this time of night.
The accident closed the Honolulu-bound lanes and one Kaneohe-bound lane of the Likelike until past midnight.