Six injured after bus hits cruise ship passengers at Port Everglades

OceanAngel · June 4, 2007

PORT EVERGLADES -- A Greyhound bus slammed into a group of passengers fresh from an Caribbean cruise as they waited to board a bus at Port Everglades Sunday morning, sheriff's officials said.

Six people were transported to Broward General Medical Center with injuries that were not life threatening.

The accident occurred at around 10:40 a.m. at the port's 19th berth at 2019 Eller Drive.

Lindsay McGrath, 23, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, had just spent eight days traveling with Carnival Cruise Lines to San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortula and the Bahamas with her parents, siblings, cousins, aunt and uncle. The group of ten, tanned and rested from their vacation, disembarked from the cruiseliner Sunday morning. They were waiting by their luggage to board a bus to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when the Greyhound lurched toward them, hitting a concrete post first.

"It was two seconds. If it weren't for that , I'd be dead," said McGrath as she sat in a wheel chair, right leg raised, at the emergency room of Broward General Medical Center. She was waiting to be treated and said she had no feeling in her right leg.

The bus struck her, though other family members managed to dodge it. In the scramble, her mother, Nancy McGrath, 50, fell and injured her hand, and her aunt, Carole Baumgartner, 49, injured her side.

Both were admitted and being treated for their injuries.

"I felt like I was in a movie," said Eric Baumgartner, 24, McGrath's cousin. "I turned my head and the bus was coming straight at us."

The McGraths and Baumgartners had been waiting for a bus to take them to the airport for a flight to Newark, New Jersey. They still hoped to board a later flight.

Lindsay McGrath said her family was close and vacationed together every year. They had planned the cruise for months.

"This put a damper on everything," said her father, Robert McGrath, 50. "I'm angry. All I want now is to get my family home safely."

Officials were investigating the cause and details of the crash.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/bro...la-news-broward

OceanAngel · June 4, 2007

Two men ticketed in bus crash at port

By NATALIE P. McNEAL

nmcneal@MiamiHerald.com

A Greyhound bus crashed into at least six people Sunday afternoon at Port Everglades. The injuries were non-life threatening, Broward Sheriff's Office said.

Passengers were waiting in front of the parked empty bus, when the vehicle lunged forward, hit a concrete post and plowed into several people who were waiting to get in. Emergency rescue workers transported six people to Broward General Medical Center.

The accident happened about 11 a.m., at the 19th berth at 2019 Eller Drive in the port.

Shane Howard, a dispatcher, was behind the wheel trying to move the bus at the time, according to BSO. The actual bus driver, Michael Randolph, was not.

Howard, 23, of Lauderhill, was given two tickets, one for careless driving and a second for not have a valid commercial driver's license, BSO said. Randolph, 28, of Miami-Dade, got a ticket for letting am unauthorized person drive the bus.

Passenger safety has been an ongoing issue at the port, where large volumes of people wait to leave or get on cruise ships.

In 2002, an 82-year-old Miami Lakes man lost control of his car, which jumped the curb and struck nine people -- sending five to the hospital -- in the cruise ship pickup area.

In the '90s, a Pompano Beach man backed his car into a crowd of people at the same location. He hit his wife and another woman returning from a cruise in the Caribbean. No one was injured seriously in that incident.

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/127424.html