Seventeen people were injured when a bus carrying the First Baptist Church of St. Charles, Mo., youth group crashed on a steep, foggy, rain-slickened road in Murray County, Ga., July 17.
The accident happened about 11:30 p.m. on Cochise Trail, a private road on the grounds of the Global Youth Ministry Camp atop Fort Mountain, when the bus missed a turn, left the road and crashed into a tree, according to news reports.
“Considering how steep the road is, they were lucky the bus hit a tree and stopped instead of rolling down an embankment,” Georgia State Patrol Cpl. Jack Lawrence said.
The bus carried 24 people when it crashed and was returning from an evening activity.
Most of the injured were treated for cuts, scrapes and bruises. However, one a student was taken to Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he was treated overnight for a concussion and a lacerated liver.
Bus driver Rusty Martin hit the steering wheel and suffered internal bleeding and fractured ribs. Dan Eubanks, minister of students and recreation, was ejected through the front windshield and went down an embankment. He suffered broken vertebrae, facial injuries and an arm laceration. His wife, Debbie, suffered a broken leg.
The church sent a second bus and a team of four adults to Georgia to bring home all but the three adults two days after the accident. Personnel Committee Chair Al Willis and his wife traveled to Dalton, Ga., to be with the three adults through the weekend.
In a blog he posted on July 19, Pastor Buddy Perstrope said that Martin was in a lot of pain but improving and that both Eubanks had completed their surgeries.
A post on the church’s Facebook site on Sunday indicated Martin had returned to St. Charles and was in Sunday worship services. Members were hopeful that the Eubanks would return on July 31 to complete their recuperation at home.
