A tour van carrying 14 Japanese from Osaka, Aichi, Kagawa, and Tokyo, rolled off a highway in Utah, killing three persons and causing seven others serious injuries.
The accident took place on Interstate 15 some four miles north of Cedar City on Monday, Aug. 9, 2010, around 6:40 p.m.
Two of the victims who died were ejected when the van went off the road. The third victim who died was found trapped inside the van. The victims are Hiroki Hayase, 20-years-old of Osaka, Nobuyuki Hoshino, 38-years-old and Junko Hoshino, 40-years-old, both of Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Seven of the victims with critical injuries have been airlifted to Salt Lake City.
Victims with non-life threatening injuries were transported to Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City.
The Japanese tour started on Monday, Aug. 9 from Las Vegas, the tour group was enroute to Bryce Canyon National Park, and scheduled to return to Japan Aug. 15.
Among the 14 Japanese tourists, four were clients of major travel agency H.I.S. Co., while eight from Nippon Travel Agency, and the remaining two were Kinki Nippon Tourist.
The 2006 Ford E 350 van involved in this fatal accident was operated by Canyon Transportation of Salt Lake City, and drove by Yasushi Mikuni, 26-years-old, of Las Vegas. The trip to Utah was organized by Western Leisure, Inc of Midvale in Utah.