Two Salt Lake residents were among those hospitalized following a bus accident near Wamsutter in south-central Wyoming.

No one was seriously injured in the accident, but eight people were listed in stable condition at Carbon County Memorial Hospital in Rawlins, 40 miles east of the accident.Dick Mills, administrator of Carbon County Memorial Hospital, identified the Salt Lake patients as Joyce Herr and Jeff Spees. They remained at the hospital under observation.

The accident occurred about 6 a.m. Thursday. In a prepared statement, the Wyoming Highway Patrol said the bus was headed west on I-15. "For an undetermined reason, the driver failed to negotiate a right-hand curve and struck an earthen embankment. The vehicle did not roll."

The driver of the bus was identified as Bobbie Williamson, 50, of Chicago.

Passengers reported that, after following a truck for some distance, the driver moved the bus into the left lane as if to pass the truck, but the vehicle kept on veering left into the median until the crash occurred.

The accident is being investigated by the Wyoming Highway Patrol and the National Transportation Safety Board.

All 45 passengers were taken to the hospital, but most were treated and released.

Another Greyhound bus, following immediately behind, stopped for two hours to help victims.

"I saw them jumping out of the windows until the ambulance got there. They couldn't get out because the door was jammed with dirt," said Dale Moses, of Chattanooga, Tenn. "It wasn't scary for me, but it was for them."

Moses, Jeffrey Allen, of Kansas City, Mo., and Emory Justice, Rome, Ga., were interviewed by the Deseret News at the Greyhound bus station in Salt Lake City, while awaiting another bus to take them to their final destination.

"When we pulled over, we saw a lot of people hurt," Allen said. The bus driver "asked if anyone wanted to help so I went and helped open the bus door. An older woman who fell into the aisle was hurt pretty badly. A couple of people were carried in stretchers, some had big gashes in their heads.

"I helped them open the door and carry them to the ambulance. We had to wait about an hour for medical help to arrive," he said.

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He said the victims "were wondering what had happened. They were shocked. They heard someone scream and then they realized they had been in an accident."

Picketing Greyhound workers in front of the station, who have been on strike since March 2, held signs saying, "On strike," as well as signs asking to talk with passengers who were awake when the crash occurred.

"Our fight isn't over the training of the drivers, our fight is over other matters," Union Local 1384 spokesman Ray Mcling said. "However, we have known and have maintained from the beginning that the replacement drivers have little or no schooling on how to operate a bus safely."

A Greyhound spokesman was unavailable late Thursday in Utah or in corporate headquarters in Dallas, but one spokesman in Wyoming said Williamson has had an excellent driving record.

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