Tour Bus Collides With SUV On Mountain Road: No Serious Injuries

GOLDEN, CO -- A mountain road crash Tuesday between a tour bus filled with passengers and an SUV averted disaster because people inside the vehicles were wearing seat belts, the Colorado State Patrol said Tuesday. The bus collided with the passenger car on Highway 6 near mile marker 268 (Clear Creek Canyon) around 9 a.m. The road was closed for several hours.

Photos of the black SUV showed the side of the vehicle smashed in with airbags deployed and the front wheel missing. The bus suffered damage to the front, passenger side.

"Minor injuries, thank goodness," tweeted the CSP's Golden unit. Forty-eight passengers between ages 30-94 and the driver of the bus were helped onto another tour bus. One bus passenger suffered minor injuries, while eight others complained of injuries, CSP reported. Tow trucks were summoned to pull wreckage from the road.

Law enforcement agencies said the accident could have been more tragic if passengers hadn't been wearing seat belts. "Driver of SUV walked away from crash thanks to using his seatbelt," the CSP tweeted.

The highway was closed until around 12:30 p.m. when it finally reopened.

Images via Colorado State Patrol