Six killed in Greyhound crash; passenger says driver attacked

Associated Press WriterMANCHESTER, Tenn. (AP) -- A passenger aboard a Greyhound bus slit the driver's throat Wednesday, causing a crash that killed at least six of the 40 people aboard and prompted Greyhound to temporarily halt service nationwide.

The driver was treated for a cut to his neck and was stable after surgery, a hospital official said. Coffee County Medical Examiner Dr. Al Brandon confirmed that the driver's throat had been slit with a "sharp instrument similar to a razor blade."

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said it was too early to tell if the accident was terrorist-related, but that the agency didn't believe so. She said the attacker had a Croatian passport.

The attacker did not survive, according to FBI spokesman Scott Nowinski. FBI agents were among the investigators at the crash site.

There were conflicting reports about how many people had died in the crash. In a statement, Lynn Brown, Greyhound's vice president for corporate communications, said police had confirmed 10 fatalities.

But Dana Keeton, a Tennessee Department of Safety spokeswoman, said six were confirmed dead at the scene, and the 34 other people on board, including the driver, were injured. She said the injured were taken to at least six hospitals. The extent of the injuries was not immediately determined.

Brandon said the driver told him one passenger on the bus, who had been polite and spoke with a foreign accent, got up several times to talk to him. He told the medical examiner the passenger then "accosted" him, using a box cutter.

The passenger then grabbed the steering wheel, forcing the bus into the oncoming lanes of the interstate before it crossed the road and tipped over onto its right side, the medical examiner said.

The driver, whose name was not immediately released, was able to crawl from the wreckage through a window of the bus and tried to flag down help from passing vehicles. He said the attacker was thrown through the windshield.

The bus, No. 1115, left Louisville, Ky., for Atlanta before crashing at 4:15 a.m. CDT, Greyhound spokeswoman Karen Chapman said. The crash happened near Manchester, 50 miles southeast of Nashville on Interstate 24.

Greyhound spokesman Mike Lake said the bus originated in Chicago with a final destination of Orlando, Fla. Terrence Harvey, the Louisville terminal supervisor, said he did not know where the assailant boarded the bus.

Speaking by cellular phone from the crash site, passenger Carly Rinearson told Nashville TV station WTVF that a man who appeared to be 30 to 35 years old kept approaching her front seat and asking what time it was. She said the man then asked if he could have her seat, and she refused.

Afterward, "he just went up to the bus driver and, like, slit his throat, and the driver turned the wheel and the bus tipped over," Rinearson said.

Dallas-based Greyhound stopped all service as a precaution after the crash, spokeswoman Kristin Parsley said. About 1,900 of its 2,300 buses had been on the road when the crash occurred, she said.

She said buses already en route were allowed to continue to their destinations. Service was to resume at midday.

Chapman said the company halted all its service "to see if the incident would impact the safety of passengers elsewhere." She would not say why the crash might affect other buses, but acknowledged nationwide service would not normally be halted after one accident.

Passengers across the country were inconvenienced by the loss of service, and many said they felt jittery after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"People are a little panicky about it," Joi Smith, a Greyhound agent, said. "They are freaked out, which is understandable."

Greyhound had begun boosting security in many terminals around the nation, said Tim Barham, district manager of driver operations in Washington, D.C.

"Ever since the September 11 events we've had several discussions and started to implement extra security," he said.

------Greyhound has set up a toll-free phone number for relatives seeking information about passengers 800-884-2744.

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