Again, a fatal bus crash has taken innocent lives, in this case three tourists aboard a casino bus in Mississippi. No other vehicles were involved when the bus, taking 43 visitors to an airport, flipped over in a median. Twenty-seven people were injured and taken to a hospital, where one was in critical condition.

The Associated Press reports that the bus’s roof partially caved in during the rollover accident Sunday, and its windows were knocked out.

The passengers had been guests of Harrah’s Tunica casino in northwest Mississippi as part of a promotional trip. Most were returning to their homes in South Carolina. Hararah’s Entertainment, owner of the bus, set up a telephone hotline to provide relatives of victims with information on the fatal bus crash.

That’s a far cry from the response just two days earlier when a chartered bus carrying dozens of Houston-area worshippers to a religious gathering in Missouri had a fatal bus accident on a highway north of Dallas.

Its death toll now stands at 17, and 30 are injured. All were members of Vietnamese Catholic churches in the Houston area.

Federal investigators have pinpointed one possible cause of the tragedy: a front-tire blowout. That tire apparently had been retreaded, a safety violation. The bus’s driver and owners also reportedly had previous violations.

The two related Houston companies which are linked to the fatal bus crash — Angel Tours and Igual Busmex — have been ordered by the National Transportation Safety Board to cease operations. News media calls to their offices have gone unanswered.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Texas alone had 118 fatal accidents involving buses between 2000 and 2006.

These latest two accidents have come around the same time as yet another bus crash, this time in Nevada, where at least 20 persons were injured Sunday night when a bus skidded off the road. That accident, too, may have involved tire failure.

If a loved one has been in a fatal bus accident, a  Houston bus accident lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates is standing by to help. The personal injury law firm offers a free case review.

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