Mar

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Bluffton College Faces Tragic Accident

March 2, 2007 |

Photo Credit: Buzzle.com

The Bluffton College Baseball team was simply on their way to Florida for some games in the pre-season. It appears that at least 6 of them will not be coming home. Others injured and reports at present are sketchy. The entire region is affected as some of the players come from various areas including Allen County Ohio. It will be a very tough day for the surviving team members and all the families involved.

Tragedy struck early Friday morning as a charter bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team fell off a highway overpass and onto Interstate 75. At least six people were killed, including the bus driver, his wife, and four students. Twenty-nine people were injured, three critically, according to hospital officials.

The bus was en route to Sarasota, FL, for the baseball team’s first game of the season against Eastern Mennonite College of Harrisburg, VA. The team was also scheduled to play eight games in Fort Myers, FL, beginning Monday. Bluffton University is a Mennonite-affiliated school just south of Toledo, OH.

Investigators are questioning whether the accident was a result of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane confusion. The bus had been driving in a center HOV lane on I-75 southbound. It exited the highway onto a bridge leading to Northside Drive but did not appear to stop at the top of the ramp. The bus then plunged off the ramp and back onto I-75 south blocking all four travel lanes. Police investigators believe that the bus driver may not have realized he was in an HOV exit lane but thought his lane would continue down the highway.


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