toledoblade.com -- At least 6 people killed in crash of charter bus carrying Bluffton University baseball team

ATLANTA - A charter bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team toppled off the Northside Drive bridge in Atlanta onto a pickup truck on Interstate 75 shortly before dawn today, police spokesman Joe Cobb said. The accident killed six and injured 29.

The impact broke his windshield, pushed his truck into the concrete and wrecked the front bumper.

Four students, the bus driver and the bus driver’s wife were killed, said police Maj. Calvin Moss.

Interview with Bluffton's A.J. Ramthun (WXIA-TV courtesy of WTVG-TV)

Nineteen students — three in critical condition — were being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Dr. Leon Haley said. He said all but two students were awake and talking, and doctors were checking them for broken bones.

Three other injured people were taken to Piedmont Hospital, and seven were taken to Atlanta Medical Center, Haley said. Officials at the three hospitals said 28 of the 29 were college age, and the age of the other injured person could not immediately be determined.

Piedmont hospital spokeswoman Diana Lewis said the team’s coach, James Grandey, 29, was in serious condition and expected to improve.

More than a thousand students and staff filled the bleachers at the gym inside Founders Hall for a campus meeting and prayer service this morning, but Bluffton University president James Harder could offer no new information about the crash or who was killed or injured.

Atlanta police inspect the ramp above where the bus crashed.
( ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION )

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"I wish I could tell you more. We are getting the same information you are getting from the media," he said. "We are aware there have been some fatalities and some serious injuries."

He said as soon as the university gets official information it will post it on its Web site and e-mail students.

The students were led in prayer and stood together to sing Amazing Grace.

Mr. Harder said that Gov. Ted Strickland had called offering his support and told him he had spoken with the governor of Georgia.

"We are indeed grateful for the caring expressed by so many individuals," Mr. Harder said.

At Marbeck Center, where the university main phone line rings, the calls were endless.

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Many came from Atlanta where people offered their homes to players’ families, their help and prayers. Marbeck Center manager Mark Bourassa said prayers were all that he could ask people for.

"Certainly that’s what we’re telling them. Prayer is the best thing they can do."

Students seemed frustrated not knowing who had been put in the crash.

"I’m friends with several of the baseball players. I wish I could remember which ones were going to Florida." said Heather Meade, a junior from Arcanum, Ohio.

She said Bluffton is small enough that if students don’t know each other personally they know someone who does.

"We’re a very close knit campus," she said.

Pastors and counselors from the area came to campus this morning and were offering their services in the lobbies of five residence halls.

Today was to be the last day of classes, including mid-term exams before the school started its spring break, but all classes and exams have been canceled, said Robin Bowlus, director of public relations.

The spokesman added that before news of the accident hit campus, the president had planned to leave for Florida today and attend the team’s game tomorrow in Sarasota.

Harder said all other spring break trips sponsored by the university were canceled, including a trip to Florida planned by the women's softball team that was supposed to leave this afternoon.

The bus, owned by Executive Coach Luxury Travel Inc., of Ottawa, Ohio, had exited I-75 near downtown Atlanta about 5:45 a.m. today when the driver apparently lost control on the exit ramp overpass. The bus crashed through a railing and landed on its side on I-75 below, police said.

A total of 35 people were believed to be aboard the bus, including 33 baseball players and coaches with the Bluffton University team and two rotating drivers with the bus company, police said. Bluffton University competes in NCAA Division III.

McPherson

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Nineteen Bluffton students were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, three of them in critical condition. Two of those three were rushed to the operating room and one was placed in the intensive care unit. Sixteen others were being treated for mild to moderate injuries, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A spokeswoman for Piedmont Hospital said three of the crash victims are at the hospital. Two of them are in good condition. Although she cannot yet release the condition of the third, she said that those still being treated from the crash will survive.

Cody McPherson, a Lake High graduate and Bluffton freshman, informed his parents that he suffered an injured leg, but was otherwise "OK," according to Mr. McPherson's sister Kelly Foltis.

Mr. McPherson's father, David, was flying to Fort Myers today and is planning on driving up to Atlanta.

A Maumee woman who is the mother of a Bluffton University baseball player involved in the bus crash on I-75 north of Atlanta said her son was alive.

Cindy Sigg, mother of Bluffton junior first baseman Greg Sigg, said her son called her while laying on the I-75 pavement at 5:50 a.m. on Friday.

The team was en route to Fort Myers, Fla., to begin playing on Saturday.

"He is a survivor," Ms. Sigg said while trying to fight back emotion.

Ms. Sigg said her son, 21, a 2004 graduate of Maumee High, called her from someone else’s cell phone that was on the ground next to him.

Mr. Sigg told his mother that he was alive and he’ll be OK, but that there were bodies laying everywhere.

"He said it was awful," Ms. Sigg said.

Mr. Sigg is receiving treatment for broken bones in his face and what Ms. Sigg said was a two-inch gash in his leg.

Ms. Sigg has another son, Kevin, 18, who is a freshman pitcher at Ohio Northern University, is already in Port Charlotte, Fla., accompanying his team on its spring trip.

Jimmy McMonagle, of Ida, Mich., is bruised and emotionally distraught but he is otherwise uninjured, according Ida High School officials that have spoken with Mr. McMonagle's family members. School officials said the family is not talking with the media at this time.

The charter bus plunged off an overpass and fell nearly 30 feet to the pavement below.
( ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION )

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Meanwhile, the mother of former Bryan area student and Bluffton player David Betts said she had not heard the condition of her son.

Joy Betts, an employee at Bryan City Schools, said her husband John had already flown to Fort Myers to watch their son’s games, but is now on his way to Atlanta.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it would send a seven-member team to the crash scene, led by investigator Robert Accetta and with board member Kitty Higgins accompanying the team. The NTSB team was expected to arrive in Atlanta sometime today.

The bus crash was the second fatal accident on an Atlanta-area interstate in hours. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Web site, ajc.com, reported that a metro Atlanta police officer was killed on I-75/85 just south of Fulton Street when his Cadillac Escalade hit a Clayton County ambulance head-on. Police said he was driving the wrong way on the road.

Rescue workers prepare to transport an injured passenger.
( ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION )

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The team was reportedly en route to spring baseball games in Fort Myers, Fla., when the accident occurred. The accident has created major rush-hour traffic problems this morning for Atlanta police.

The team was scheduled to play its first game of the season in Sarasota, Fla., on Saturday against Eastern Mennonite College of Harrisonburg, Va. It had eight games scheduled in Fort Myers, Fla., beginning Monday.

A spokeswomen for the Bluffton University athletics department said that the department could not comment at this time.

Bluffton University, a liberal arts school, is located about 60 miles southwest of Toledo. The university is on spring break until March 11. The school has 1,150 students and is affiliated with the Mennonite Church USA.

According to the Bluffton University Web page, the baseball team was scheduled to play in the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Fla.

Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com

2007 Bluffton baseball schedule

2006 Bluffton University baseball team.

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March
3 Eastern Mennonite (7/9) 12 p.m.
5-9 Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida -
5 Hiram (7/9) CC1 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
6 Thiel (9) TP1 12 p.m.
7 John Carroll (9) TBA
8 Baldwin-Wallace (7/7) TP2 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
9 John Carroll (9) TP2 12 p.m.
13 at Wright State (9) 5 p.m.
17 THOMAS MORE (7/9) 1 p.m.
20 at Ohio Northern (V/JV DH) 1 p.m.
24 at Franklin* (9) 4 p.m.
25 at Franklin* (7/9) 12 p.m.
27 at Defiance* (9) 4 p.m.
30 MT. ST. JOSEPH* (9) 4 p.m.
31 MT. ST. JOSEPH* (7/9) 12 p.m.

AREA PLAYERS ON BLUFFTON'S BASEBALL ROSTER

• Cody McPherson - Lake
• Greg Sigg - Maumee
• David Betts - Bryan
• Jimmy McMonagle - Ida, Mich

April
3 at Manchester* (9) 4:15 p.m.
6 ANDERSON* (7/9) 12 p.m.
7 at Anderson* (9) 12 p.m.
10 HEIDELBERG (9) 4 p.m.
13 ROSE-HULMAN* (9) 4 p.m.
14 ROSE-HULMAN* (7/9) 12 p.m.
17 MANCHESTER* (9) 4 p.m.
20 at Hanover* (9) 4 p.m.
21 at Hanover* (7/9) 12 p.m.
24 ST. FRANCIS (7/7) 1 p.m.
28 at Lake Erie (7/7) 1 p.m.

May
1 DEFIANCE* (9) 4 p.m.
4 at Transylvania* (9) 4 p.m.
5 at Transylvania* (7/9) 12 p.m.
TBA HCAC Championship (at highest seed)

FREE FLIGHTS FOR PARENTS

Airtran Airlines is offering free flights for parents of Bluffton University baseball players. Contact Airtran at 1-800-247-8726. Airtran flies out of Detroit, Akron/Canton and Dayton. The airline does not fly out of Toledo. However, an Airtran charter flight is schedule to fly out of Toledo at 5 p.m. Friday.

VIDEO

View WSBTV Atlanta video

• WTVG-TV: View the interview with the injured Bluffton baseball player A.J. Ramthun.

• AP VIDEO: A charter bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team from Ohio plunged off a highway ramp in Atlanta early Friday and slammed into the pavement below, killing six people, four students, the bus driver and the bus driver's wife.

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