Update: Death toll from bus crash expected to rise

Investigators expect the death toll from Friday’s tour bus crash to rise.

A bus loaded with Chinese tourists ran off the road and rammed into a guardrail near Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah. Four people died.

The Utah Highway Patrol tweeted that at least 12 passengers suffered “very critical injuries.” However, the exact number of wounded remains in question because paramedics took victims to three different hospitals.

One hospital says it’s admitted 17 people. Another says it has 11 with three in critical condition.

The bus was carrying 30 people at the time of the crash. Investigators still don’t know why it ran off the road.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – 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.