Investigators are still researching the cause of the accident RELATED VIDEO CNN's Susan Candiotti reports on the ongoing investigation (May 10) Windows Media 28K 80K CNN's Charles Zewe reports from the crash scene (May 10) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

May 10, 1999
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EDT (0240 GMT)

In this story: Bus company plans own investigation First lawsuit filed Prayers said for lost friends RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- Federal investigators said Monday they have recovered a key component from the engine of a charter bus that could reveal how fast the vehicle was traveling when it crashed Sunday, killing 22 people.

Robert Francis, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators found the engine's electronic module -- which monitors functions of the engine and transmission -- that could show at what speed the bus was traveling and if the driver had tried to stop the vehicle.

NTSB investigators spent the day going over every inch of the bus wreckage.

Investigators also plan to take a look at the driving record of bus driver Frank Bedell, 49, who told hospital officials that a car cut in front of the bus, causing him to veer to the right. At least one witness corroborated that story.

Bedell's injuries include a fractured pelvis. He underwent surgery Monday.

Francis said no results are back yet from tests to determine whether Bedell -- a three-year employee of the bus company with no record of work-related problems -- was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash. Such tests are routine after a fatal accident.

He said the lab work also would disclose whether Bedell was taking any prescription medicine when the accident occurred.

Bus company plans own investigation

Investigators are still researching the cause of the accident

The tour bus, taking a group of mostly senior citizens from LaPlace, Louisiana, to a casino in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, veered across three lanes of Interstate 610 in New Orleans on Sunday, crashing through a fence and into a concrete wall. Its front end was crushed in the impact.

In addition to the dead, another 24 passengers were injured in the accident, 18 of them critically.

Donna Begovich, president of Custom Bus Charters, owners of the bus involved in the accident, said the company is conducting its own investigation of the crash. It plans to hold a news conference Tuesday.

"Whatever the facts may be, we want them fully aired," she said. "We have nothing to hide, and we are stricken by the tragic loss of life in this terrible crash."

Begovich rejected claims that the bus was unsafe.

"The company adheres to rigid safety standards for its equipment and drivers," she said.

The bus involved in the accident was only 1 1/2 years old, and met all state and federal standards, she said. A company spokesman said earlier the bus had new brakes.

A safety engineer with the company said Bedell had a clean driving record.

City officials are urging everyone to be patient with the investigation.

"Steady and deliberate is more important than hasty, quick and inaccurate," said New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial.

Morial said investigators were trying to sort out "conflicting stories about what may have happened."

First lawsuit filed

Rose Garnett is consoled at a memorial service for her mother and seven others killed in the crash

One of the surviving victims already has filed a lawsuit against the bus company.

"This bus had no seat belts; it is designed in such a fashion as to invite the tragedy that we have seen here today," said attorney Danny Bechnel, who is representing a woman critically injured with a punctured liver and broken ribs.

He claimed the driver had undergone dialysis treatment before leaving on the trip, which could have played a role in the accident.

Most of the surviving victims are elderly, some in their 70s and 80s, and suffered multiple arm, leg and chest fractures as well as respiratory injuries.

Prayers said for lost friends

A hastily arranged memorial service was held Monday at the Place DuBourg nursing home in LaPlace, where eight of the dead, plus two of the injured, had lived.

As Monsignor Thomas Rodi and two Catholic priests led the memorial, up to 60 people -- some of them in wheelchairs, others using walkers -- solemnly and fondly remembered their friends.

"We pray for the families," Rodi said as audience members cried and comforted each other.

Rose Garnett's mother, Florence Mathieu, was among those mourned in the service.

"My mother loved casinos. After she came to live here, this became like a new life to her. She had a vitality for life," Garnett said.

"The night before, I spoke to my mom until 1:30 a.m. that morning, and she actually told me, 'Well, chere, goodnight and goodbye,'" Garnett recalled tearfully.

"So I knew, when I heard the news, that my mother died the way she would have wanted to go."

Corespondent Charles Zewe contributed to this report.