More than a dozen people were injured when a recreational vehicle slammed into the back of a tour bus on the Richardson Highway on Sunday. According to Alaska State Troopers, the northbound bus was making a left turn off the highway to the Princess Lodge in Copper Center, when the RV hit it. The accident occurred at mile 101 on the Richardson.
Trooper spokesman Tim Despain said 13 bus passengers were taken to hospitals by ground or air ambulance. Two Life Flight airplanes and a helicopter assisted in the transport. Despain said there is no word yet on the severity of the injuries.
The driver of the RV was 47-year-old Jesse Johnson of Anchorage. Three passengers were in the RV. The bus, operated by North Pole Tours of Fairbanks, carried 32 passengers. It is not clear if Johnson faces citations.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
