Three dead, six hurt in bus crash east of Wenatchee

Three people, including a bus driver, died and at least six others were injured Sunday afternoon, when a car crashed head-on into a charter bus east of Wenatchee, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Around 1:40 p.m., a car apparently tried to pass traffic on Highway 28 near Rock Island Dam Road, Trooper Jeremy Weber said. The vehicle slammed into an oncoming Northwestern Stagelines charter bus.

The bus driver died, as did the driver and passenger in the car. At least two people on the bus suffered critical injuries, Weber said. Four others suffered injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.

Roughly 28 people on the bus were not seriously injured.

A third vehicle sustained minor damage in the crash, Weber said. Nobody in that car was injured.

Troopers shut down the road for an extensive investigation, about 10 miles east of Wenatchee.

“I’ve just been telling people to completely avoid the area” for the next few hours, Weber said around 5:30 p.m.

There’s no other arterial road in the area – in the coulees along the Columbia River, just east of the town of Rock Island – so drivers were being detoured to U.S. 2 and Highway 97.

Troopers have not release d where the bus was coming from, or where it was bound.

The identities of the deceased also had not been released as of Sunday evening.