Greyhound Resumes Service After Deadly Attack

Greyhound stopped service nationwide as a precaution. The company decided it was safe to resume as of 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

“The officials have assured me that they believe this tragic accident was the result of an isolated act by a single deranged individual,” Greyhound president and CEO Craig Lentzsch told reporters in Washington, D.C.

Earlier, U.S. Justice Department officials had said they had no reason to believe the attack was terrorist-related, but that the investigation was continuing.

About 1,900 of Greyhound’s 2,300 buses had been on the road when the crash occurred, according to a spokeswoman at the company’s headquarters in Dallas. Buses already en route were allowed to continue to their destinations.

According to a woman on board, the bus crashed after a male passenger slit the driver’s throat. The driver was treated for lacerations to his neck and was stable after surgery, a hospital official said.

Coffee County Medical Examiner Dr. Al Brandon confirmed that the driver’s throat had been slit with a “sharp instrument similar to a razor blade.”

Six were confirmed dead at the scene, and the 34 other people on board, including the driver, were injured. The attacker did not survive, according to FBI spokesman Scott Nowinski. According to U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden, the attacker had a Croatian passport.

The bus originated in Chicago and was heading to Orlando, Florida. It was traveling on Interstate 24 from Louisville, Ky. to Atlanta when it crashed at 5:15 a.m. EDT. The bus left the eastbound lanes, crossed the median and the westbound lanes and turned over onto its left side. The interstate was shut down as police and rescue workers arrived on the scene.

Speaking by cellular phone from the crash site, passenger Carly Rinearson told Nashville TV station WTVF that a man who appeared to be 30 to 35 years old kept approaching her front seat and asking what time it was. She said the man then asked if he could have her seat, and she refused. Afterward, “he just went up to the bus driver and, like, slit his throat, and the driver turned the wheel and the bus tipped over,” Rinearson said.

Greyhound had begun boosting security in many terminals following the September 11 airline hijackings and attacks, said Tim Barham, district manager of driver operations in Washington, DC.

Greyhound has set up a toll-free phone number for relatives seeking information about passengers. That number is 800-884-2744.