The charter bus slid off the freeway, went through a guardrail and fell down a snowy slope about 100 feet Sunday.
The crash occurred at about 10:30 a.m. 13 miles east of Pendleton — and just 1 mile west of Deadman Pass. Westbound I-84 was closed at La Grande, Ore., until 6 p.m.
The names of those who died have not been released. That may take some time, as some or all of the group is believed to be visiting from outside the United States, police said.
Some of the survivors were taken to the Pendleton Convention Center. The East Oregonian newspaper spoke with two teenagers from South Korea who had been living in Vancouver, Canada.
Through a translator, they told the East Oregonian the bus flipped at least once, and they saw breaking glass and passengers pinned by their seats.
Early reports indicated about 40 passengers were on the bus, though that number was unconfirmed. Emergency personnel from multiple agencies worked to free the passengers from the bus.
Twenty-six crash victims were taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, the first victims arriving at about 11:30 a.m., said hospital spokesman Larry Blanc.
Blanc said the hospital went into disaster mode as soon as it was alerted about the crash. Five doctors triaged patients, sending five on to regional hospitals for treatment. Several fixed-wing medical aircraft were standing by.
Blanc did not know the ages of the crash victims, but he believes there were both adults and children. He noted, too, that officials were looking for a Korean translator.
Four patients were transported to Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Wash., said spokeswoman Kathleen Obenland. Three were listed in serious condition Sunday afternoon.
She did not know the condition of the fourth patient, though physicians were discussing transferring that patient to another hospital. Walla Walla hospital officials had also sought a Korean translator, Obenland said.
The charter bus was from Mi Joo Tour & Travel of Vancouver, British Columbia, police said. It was traveling from Las Vegas to Vancouver.
A woman at Mi Joo Tour & Travel confirmed Sunday that the company owned the bus and said it was on a tour of the Western United States, The Vancouver Sun newspaper reported. The bus driver survived the crash but officials were not able to talk to him or her because of the severity of the his or her injuries (the gender of the driver was not released).
Second crash The bus crash was the second fatal accident in eastern Oregon on Sunday.
A 69-year-old Post Falls, Idaho, man was pronounced dead at the scene of a rollover crash that occurred at about 6:45 a.m. on Interstate 84.
Freeman Glen Thomason was killed in the crash, Oregon State Police said Sunday night.
Police say Thomason was a passenger in a 2004 Ford F-350 pickup that was traveling east on Interstate 84 near Stanfield, Ore. The driver, Timothy Hancock, a 26-year-old Hermiston, Ore., man, lost control of the pickup on an icy section of highway near milepost 192.
The pickup slid into the center median and rolled before coming to rest on its top. Hancock was transported to Good Shepherd Hospital in Hermiston with non-life-threatening injures.
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
