Mexican Hat (US): A chartered bus taking skiers home to Arizona ran off a curvy road and rolled down an embankment in a crash that split open the vehicle's roof and threw some passengers 100 yards. Eight were killed and 20 others injured.

The Arrow Stage Lines bus was southbound on State Route 163 when it failed to negotiate a curve Sunday night, went off the road and rolled over several times down the 41-foot slope, said Trooper Cameron Roden of the Utah Highway Patrol.

Although the road was described as wet from light rain, weather was not the "main factor", Roden said. "The main thing we're looking at is the driver failed to negotiate the turn."

The highway is known as a challenge for drivers.

"It s just a narrow road. No shoulders, sharp curves," said Jim Hook, the fire chief in Bluff, who was among the first at the scene. "Truckers and buses know that. You don t go in there at night."

The scene of the crash was a mess of barbed wire, steel posts, luggage and ski equipment. The roof of the bus split open, tires were stripped off the vehicle and some people were pinned under the wreck, Hook said.

"The roof of the bus was on the ground," Hook said. "There were people scattered 91.4 meters from where the bus went off the road."

The driver suffered minor injuries, he said. The bus was returning to Phoenix after a ski trip to Telluride, Colorado.

Source : PTI