EMERY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE PRESS RELEASE
At 11:48 p.m. on December 27, 2021, Emery County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center started receiving calls from passengers on a Greyhound bus stating that the bus had crashed on Interstate 70 and that a lot of people were injured. One caller stated that the bus had left the roadway and was upside down in a ditch.
Emery County ambulances and fire departments were paged and responded, as well as ambulances from Wayne County, Sevier County, Sanpete County and Carbon County. Additional Emery County EMTs responded in personal vehicles. Emery County Sheriff’s Office personnel, AP&P agents and members of the Emery County Search and Rescue Team responded, joining deputies from Wayne County and UHP personnel.
Helicopters were paged but were unable to respond due to weather conditions. The Carbon County Road Department was dispatched for snow removal at the Carbon County Airport in Price to clear the runway and allow for the University of Utah Air Med fixed-wing plane to land and be on standby for patient transport. Lowell Morris and Gabe Sermon, who are two medical professionals from Emery Medical Center in Castle Dale, responded to the scene. Green River Medical Center was on standby to receive injured
passengers.
Initial reports from passengers were of possibly 50 passengers on the bus. After response, it was determined that there were 36 passengers and one driver on the bus. Emery School District responded to the scene with a school bus in case it was needed for transport.
The accident happened at MP 112 in a remote section of Interstate 70. The accident site is 48 miles from Green River (no hospital), 36 miles from the small town of Emery (no medical services), 71 miles from Richfield (nearest hospital) and 92 miles from Price (hospital). Emery County Sheriff’s Office designated a temporary shelter location at a church in the town of Emery for ten passengers who were not taken from the accident scene by ambulance. Emery residents responded with blankets and food for these passengers, and
also cooked breakfast for them. After Morris and Sermon were finished at the scene of the accident, they responded to the church in Emery. After further evaluation and triage of the ten passengers that were sheltering at the church, six of them were transported to hospitals by ambulance.
In total, 32 people were transported by 12 ambulances to three hospitals.
Emery County Sheriff Greg Funk commented, “I cannot say enough about the cooperation between counties. To get that many ambulances from five counties to such a remote location, as well as support from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office and AP&P to help with the injured passengers – – – it was an incredible effort on a frigid winter night. Emery County EMS was able to send numerous EMTs to the scene in addition to those working on the ambulances. A phone call was made to the bishop of the Emery Ward. He opened the church building and arranged for food and bedding for those not initially transported by ambulance. At least ten residents of Emery were at the church cooking for and serving the stranded passengers. I am very grateful for the way they responded to show kindness to the stranded passengers. I want to thank our Search and Rescue volunteers who responded to help triage at the scene of the accident and who helped pack injured passengers to the ambulances. Two members of our
Search and Rescue Team who responded, Seth Gardner and James Byars, are also EMTs. They quickly took control of tracking patients and triage at the scene and did a phenomenal job. Search and Rescue volunteers also used their personal vehicles to transport some of the passengers to the church in Emery. I am proud of the Emery County Deputies who also triaged and cared for passengers at the scene, and who gathered up food and bedding from the Emery County Detention Center and transported it to the church.”
Emery County Commissioner Kent Wilson, stated, “I am extremely proud of our EMS staff and the way they responded. They performed above and beyond. Emery County has 5 separate ambulance garages and our EMTs are paid volunteers. Every garage responded at midnight during the holiday season. I am also grateful for our neighboring counties who helped in time of crisis.”
UHP is investigating the accident.
