Coach says 'miraculous' that UMaine team bus crash wasn't worse
During a stop at the Kennebunk rest stop on the Maine Turnpike Wednesday, University of Maine women's basketball players point guard Courtney Anderson (left) and forward Liz Wood talk about the crash that wrecked their team bus Tuesday night. Buy Photo
During a stop at the Kennebunk rest stop on the Maine Turnpike Wednesday, University of Maine women's basketball coach Richard Barron speaks about the crash that wrecked his team's bus Tuesday night.
BANGOR, Maine Coach Richard Barron said he and the players and coaches on the University of Maine Brian Cushing Jersey women's basketball team feel lucky to be alive after being involved in a bus crash.
"The Brian Cushing Womens Jersey more we all talk about it and think about it, the luckier we feel," Barron said Wednesday afternoon as the team waited to begin its return trip to Orono.
"We feel that it was miraculous," he said of getting through the accident without more numerous and more serious injuries.
According to Barron, the coach veered across two southbound lanes, through the median, across the Andre Johnson Jersey three northbound lanes of the highway and into a stand of small trees. Hamlin was taken from the scene by medical helicopter to Boston Medical Center, where police report he is hospitalized with serious injuries.
Rick Soules, general manager at Old Town based bus company John T. Cyr and Sons, said he did not know any details about what might have led to the accident. He said he had not spoken with anyone who was riding on the bus.
"We were fortunate that there were no other vehicles coming or going that we made contact with, so that's where we were lucky," Soules said.
He was not willing to provide any details about Hamlin's condition, other than the fact he is hospitalized. Soules said other information, including how long the driver has been employed by Cyr, likely would be released later.
Soules said motor coach travel is safe and that Cyr also boasts a strong safety record. However, he would not provide any details about whether Cyr motor coaches have been involved in other crashes in recent years.
"We've been in business for 100 years and we've traveled tens of millions of miles," Soules said. "Last Authentic Brian Cushing Jersey year, we traveled over 4 million miles.
"We, as a company, have been quite fortunate and quite safe," he added.
All UMaine coaches and team members were treated or evaluated at three area hospitals, according to police. A release by the University of Maine said freshman student athlete Milica Mitrovic suffered a broken hand in the crash.
Liz Wood only remembers bits and pieces of the crash.
"It happened really fast, like you have a few snippets in your mind from what you saw but you can't really remember a ton," Wood, a freshman forward from Catlett, Va., said during a Andre Johnson Womens Jersey stop at the Kennebunk Service Plaza. "We're really lucky that we all got off OK."
Wood was sitting on the right side of the bus, which faced traffic when the motor coach came to a stop.
"You could see headlights coming, which was kind of freaky," she said.
With only relatively minor injuries Authentic Andre Johnson Jersey one player suffered a broken hand and others may have sustained concussions Barron said the team was incredibly lucky.
"Any number of things could have happened from which nobody would have walked away," Barron told reporters Wednesday at the Kennebunk rest stop.
A coach held open a window near the middle of the bus as the passengers climbed out and shimmied down an adjacent tree. Meanwhile, Barron said, a volunteer firefighter who happened to pass by stopped and helped stabilize the driver, who had been ejected from his seat and was lying in the bus stairwell.
Barron, who received treatment for minor cuts on his face caused by shattered glass, said during an earlier phone interview that he attempted to intervene when the bus began swerving to the left.
Barron explained that as he moved toward the driver, he was thrown into the stairwell by the front door.