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• WTVG-TV: View the interview with the injured Bluffton baseball player <a href=http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/wmv/TO1314032.WMV><b>A.J. Ramthun</b></a>.
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Tragic bus crash stuns Bluffton community

Tragic bus crash stuns Bluffton community

ATLANTA Bluffton University baseball player Greg Sigg found himself facedown on the I-75 pavement in Atlanta early yesterday morning, the bodies of his teammates around him.

A charter bus carrying Mr. Sigg and 32 of his sleeping teammates and coaches to Sarasota, Fla., for the start of the 2007 season had flipped over a wall and landed back on the highway, killing four Ohio athletes, the bus driver, and the driver s wife.

Mr. Sigg, a first baseman and a 2004 graduate of Maumee High School, suffered broken bones in his face and a deep gash to his leg but he was alive.

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He grabbed a cell phone lying on the road and called his mother.

He said it was awful, Cindy Sigg said.

He said there were bodies lying everywhere.

Bluffton players David Betts, of Bryan, Ohio; Tyler Williams and Scott Harmon, both of Lima, Ohio, and Cody Holp, of Arcanum, Ohio, near Dayton, were all pronounced dead at the scene, according to Atlanta police.

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Charnell Williams spoke about her brother Tyler last night while waiting to board a plane to Atlanta.

He loved baseball, Ms. Williams said. That was his passion. For him to be doing his dream, that was really making us happy.

Also killed were bus driver Jerome Niemeyer and his wife, Jean, both of Columbus Grove, Ohio, in Putnam County.

Atlanta police said the team s charter bus, owned by Executive Coach Luxury Travel Inc., of Ottawa, Ohio, was traveling south on I-75 in the far-left lane.

Witnesses told police the bus continued at highway speeds up the first exit ramp available to high-occupancy vehicles traveling in the far-left lane and cut across Northside Drive.

The bus then crashed into and vaulted over a retaining wall and fence before plunging 30 feet back onto I-75, police said.

Investigators said the driver apparently mistook an exit ramp for a lane and went into the curve at full speed. It was dark at the time, just after 5:30 a.m., but the weather was clear.

Two vehicles under the overpass were struck by the bus, but their drivers were not hurt.

It looked to me like a big slab of concrete falling down, said pickup truck driver Danny Lloyd, 57, of Frostburg, Md. I didn t recognize it was a bus. I think when I saw the thing coming, I think I closed my eyes and stepped on the gas. His truck was struck by the falling bus, but Mr. Lloyd was not injured.

The crash backed up morning rush-hour traffic on I-75 for more than four hours.

In addition to the dead, 19 Bluffton students three in critical condition were being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Dr. Leon Haley said. Many were released after doctors checked them for broken bones.

One of the patients in critical condition had a blood clot on the brain removed in emergency surgery, doctors said at an afternoon news conference.

Doctors said the most critically injured tended to be near the front of the bus.

One was still at Grady as of last night. Zach Arend, a freshman who graduated from Paulding High School, was listed in critical condition. Three other injured team members were taken to Piedmont Hospital, and seven were taken to Atlanta Medical Center, Dr. Haley said.

Bluffton head coach James Grandey was listed in serious condition at Piedmont Hospital.

Officials at Grady Memorial cleared out a ward at the hospital to handle the influx of injured. A number of the injured were expected to be released to family members arriving from Ohio late last night.

Freshman A.J. Ramthun, from Springfield, Ohio, was one of many players who awoke to the bus hitting the overpass wall.

I just looked out and saw the road coming up after me, and that s all, he said. I remember our catcher, Curt Schroeder, tapped me on the head, seeing if I was awake, telling me we needed to get out because there was gas all over the place.

Team members helped each other climb out of the bus, and gave up spots on ambulances so the most severely injured could get to hospitals first.

Concern for others

I heard some guys crying, I m stuck, I m stuck, while the rest of the team helped the most injured players off the bus, Mr. Ramthun said. It was what you d expect out of any college team more concern for others than you have about yourself.

One of the players trapped under the bus was Mr. Ramthun s older brother, Mike.

I m one of the lucky ones. I broke my collarbone. I had to get stitches in my ear and both corners of my eyes. My finger was ripped to the bone, but I was lucky, said Mr. Ramthun. My older brother ... he got trapped underneath the bus and has hip damage. He might not recover from that.

Those who were the least injured were taken by a metro Atlanta public bus to hospitals for treatment. The more severely injured were taken by ambulance and medical helicopter to hospitals.

Cody McPherson, a Lake High graduate and Bluffton freshman, informed his parents that he suffered an injured leg, but was otherwise OK, according to Mr. McPherson s sister, Kelly Foltis.

Sophomore pitcher Matt Perkins, of Convoy, Ohio, called his parents and told them he had suffered scratches on his back.

Two Ida, Mich., High School graduates, Tim Berta, 22, and Jimmy McMonagle, 21, were both among the survivors.

Mr. Berta was listed in stable condition yesterday, but had remained unconscious from the time of the crash through yesterday afternoon.

Mr. McMonagle s mother, Debbie Brannan, said her son was bruised and distraught, but was otherwise uninjured.

It s a very traumatic thing for these boys. I don t know how they are ever going to recover from this but they re just going to have to try to come together as a team.

Also at Grady were Wapakoneta graduates and Bluffton juniors Ryan Baightel and Brandon Freytag, as well as Elida junior Tony Moore. All were listed in fair condition.

On the Bluffton University campus near Findlay, Ohio, students and staff yesterday morning filled the bleachers at the gym inside Founders Hall for a meeting and prayer service.

The students were led in prayer and stood to sing Amazing Grace. Another prayer vigil was planned for last night.

Yesterday s crash occurred just as the close-knit, Mennonite university with nearly 1,200 students prepared for its final day of classes and exams before spring break. All classes and events were canceled for the day.

All school trips were called off, including the women s softball team s trip to Florida.

We want to be together as a community and it doesn t make sense for those groups to travel, Eric Fulcomer, dean of students, told students and staff gathered at the morning assembly.

He encouraged students to leave for home when they were ready but to stay as long as they needed, to lean on each other, and to talk with counseling teams at five residence halls.

Faith offers comfort

Bluffton President James Harder said last night that faith offered comfort.

We understand that tragedy is part of life, that God is there, that we put our faith in God, and we put our faith in community at a time like this, he said at Toledo Express Airport as he and his wife were preparing to board a special AirTran Airways charter flight for family members heading to Atlanta to be with the players injured in the crash.

The airline is providing transportation to and from Atlanta for family members of the victims.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland offered his condolences yesterday.

The loss of someone in the dawn of their adulthood is heartbreaking, the governor said in a prepared statement. As we remember those who were lost, we will pray for the recovery of the injured, and look forward to their return to school.

Bluffton was scheduled to play Eastern Mennonite University today before heading to Fort Myers, Fla., to play in the Gene Cusic Classic. Today s game was canceled and EMU players honored their rivals at a prayer vigil last night in Sarasota, Fla.

We want to do what we can to show our solidarity with them; it s a sister institution, said Loren Swartzendruber, president of the Harrisonburg, Va., university. It ll be a time for our team to reflect about life and death. This isn t supposed to happen to young people, but it does.

Staff writers Joshua Boak, Jennifer Feehan, David Patch, and Benjamin Alexander-Bloch contributed to this report. Information from the Associated Press was also used.

Contact Joe Vardon at:jvardon@theblade.comor 419-724-6050.

Bluffton University freshman A.J. Ramthun spoke to the media and answered questions yesterday morning in Atlanta:

We ve been living together, practicing together, and just we ve been a family for the past five months. Something like this morning really makes you think twice about life. I just wanted to give my condolences to the families who suffered losses. I just wish there was something we could do.

I was asleep, like most of the guys on the bus were. All I remember as I woke up I woke up as soon as the bus hit the overpass s wall and that s when I looked up and the bus landed on the left side, which is the side I was sitting on, and I just looked out and saw the road coming up after me. And that s all. I remember

our catcher, Curt Schroeder, tapped me on the head, seeing if I was awake, telling me we needed to get out because there was gas all over the place and that s about it.

We were supposed to be driving all the way through [Atlanta]. The next time we

were supposed to stop was supposed to be 8 o clock this morning for breakfast.

I m one of the lucky ones. I broke my collarbone, I had to get stitches in my ear [and in] both corners of my eyes, and my finger was ripped to the bone. But I mean I was lucky that I m feeling fi ne. You know, I m going to heal ... cuts and bruises are going to go away.

But there s just some things ... my older brother, he s on the team as well, he got trapped underneath the bus. He has hip damage ... you know, he might not recover from that.

I don t know how to come up to some of these guys and say I m sorry while I m standing.

I spoke to my Mom and Dad ... I spoke to my Mom as soon as it happened, and my Dad was still off at work. I eventually got hold of my Dad as well while I was at the hospital, and he will be coming down to take me back home.

• AP VIDEO: A charter bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team from Ohio plunged off a highway ramp in Atlanta early Friday and slammed into the pavement below, killing six people, four students, the bus driver and the bus driver s wife.

• Listen to the Bluffton University news conference

• View the photo gallery.

First Published March 3, 2007, 8:25 p.m.

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• WTVG-TV: View the interview with the injured Bluffton baseball player <a href=http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/wmv/TO1314032.WMV><b>A.J. Ramthun</b></a>.
Among those killed were bus driver Jerome Niemeyer and his wife, Jean, both of Columbus Grove, Putnam County.
Emergency workers examine the bus crash scene on I-75 in Atlanta. Witnesses told police the charter bus flipped over a ramp s retaining wall and fell about 30 feet back onto the highway.
Jimmy McMonagle, left, and Tim Berta, both graduates ofIda, Mich., High School, were on the bus. Mr. Berta is in serious condition; Mr. McMonagle suffered bruises.
MORE COVERAGE: Hundreds attend a prayer service in Bluffton University s gym.
Emergency workers pull wreckage from a fence where the accident occurred.
Emergency workers close I-75 in Atlanta for several hours after the Bluffton University baseball team s tragic accident.
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