Editing Carrollton bus collision (section)

==Collision==
At 10:55&nbsp;p.m., while heading south on [[Interstate 71]] outside of [[Carrollton, Kentucky]], the bus collided almost head-on with a black 1987 [[Toyota Hilux|Toyota pickup truck]] which was traveling at high speed the wrong way (north in the southbound lanes) on a curved stretch of the highway.<ref name="Keneally-2018">{{Cite web|last=Keneally|first=Meghan|date=May 13, 2018|title=30 years after 27 died in worst drunk-driving crash, survivors ask if enough has changed|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/30-years-27-died-worst-drunk-driving-crash/story?id=55119258|url-status=live|access-date=May 22, 2021|website=ABC News|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513143323/https://abcnews.go.com/US/30-years-27-died-worst-drunk-driving-crash/story?id=55119258 |archive-date=May 13, 2018 }}</ref> The small truck was driven by Larry Wayne Mahoney, a 34-year-old factory worker who was [[driving under the influence|intoxicated]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Larry |last=Copeland |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/12/survivors-recall-deadliest-drunken-driving-crash/2154291/ |title=Survivors recall deadliest drunken-driving crash |work=USA Today |date=May 12, 2013 |access-date=May 14, 2018 |archive-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110121705/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/12/survivors-recall-deadliest-drunken-driving-crash/2154291/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Mahoney later admitted he had been drinking in a bar and at a friend's house prior to the collision. Police also found a twelve-pack of [[Miller Lite]] beer in Mahoney's truck which was still cold and had several cans missing.{{sfn|Robin|1991|pp=75–6}}

During the collision, the left rear of the pickup truck spun 90 degrees to the right and, while doing so, struck the left side of a [[Cadillac de Ville series|1977 Cadillac Sedan de Ville]] heading in the same direction of the bus causing damage to the back driver's door and vinyl roof. The car had broken glass along with{{vague|date=May 2023}} red plastic material that was from the taillight lens of the Toyota. The right front of the pickup truck struck the right front of the bus, breaking off the bus's suspension and driving the leaf spring backward into the gas tank mounted behind an exterior panel but outside the heavier frame, just behind the step well for the front door. The front door was jammed shut by collision damage.

Both vehicle drivers sustained injuries, but nobody aboard the bus was seriously injured by the actual collision between the two vehicles. However, the right front suspension of the Ford chassis broke off through the bus stepwell, puncturing the gasoline tank and igniting the fuel supply.{{sfn|Kunen|1994|p=36}} When fire first broke out immediately after the collision, bus driver John Pearman tried to put it out with a small [[fire extinguisher]] while passengers began to evacuate through the center rear emergency door, squeezing through the narrow opening between the two rear seats and jumping to the ground.

A survivor recounted the short timeframe of events: "We knew we hit something, and…all the kids got up in the aisle thinking we were gonna get off. And within 20 seconds you felt the heat come in the bus. You started hearing kids crying and screaming for their mom, panicking. That's when everybody started pushing on everybody to go one way."<ref name="WDRB">{{Cite web|title=Carroll Co. bus crash survivor using similar bus to spread DUI message|url=https://www.wdrb.com/news/carroll-co-bus-crash-survivor-using-similar-bus-to-spread-dui-message/article_e90f0c9b-975c-54b4-a933-ad293e1c4a0c.html|access-date=May 22, 2021|website=WDRB|date=September 23, 2014|language=en|archive-date=May 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522175753/https://www.wdrb.com/news/carroll-co-bus-crash-survivor-using-similar-bus-to-spread-dui-message/article_e90f0c9b-975c-54b4-a933-ad293e1c4a0c.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Another remembered startling awake after the collision and attempting to escape through a window but it refused to open, before rushing to the back.<ref name="Dodd-2013">{{Cite web|last=Dodd|first=Johnny|date=May 14, 2013|title=Impact: After the Crash Shares Lessons from Worst Drunk Driving Crash in History|url=https://people.com/celebrity/impact-after-the-crash-shares-lessons-from-worst-drunk-driving-crash-in-history/|url-status=live|access-date=May 22, 2021|website=PEOPLE.com|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130100204/http://people.com:80/celebrity/impact-after-the-crash-shares-lessons-from-worst-drunk-driving-crash-in-history/ |archive-date=January 30, 2017 }}</ref>

Survivors said after emptying the small fire extinguisher, Pearman helped some of the many children find their way down the narrow and dark aisle to the only practical way out of the smoke-filled bus. According to the NTSB investigation, more than 60 people trying to reach the rear emergency door—the only available exit—created a crush of bodies in the 12-inch-wide aisle. Many passengers found themselves unable to move. A beverage cooler which had been earlier placed in the aisle near row 10 (of 11 rows of seats) aggravated the crush.<ref name="Keneally-2018" />

Other passengers tried unsuccessfully to break or kick out any of the split-sash side windows. Only one adult, a woman who was of small stature, managed to escape through a {{convert|9|in|cm|adj=on|spell=in}} opening side window. When she looked back up from the ground, the window opening was filled with flames. The other three adults aboard died, including Pearman. Passersby and some of the escaped passengers helped to extract immobilized children through the rear door, and help them to ground level about {{convert|3|ft|m|abbr=on}} below.{{sfn|Kunen|1994|p=38}} A survivor recounted how when he reached the back door; "Someone on the outside grabbed my arm, put their foot on the bumper and literally pulled me out. I hit the asphalt and started running... I could hear the screams and the explosions."<ref name="Dodd-2013" />

Within four minutes, the entire bus was on fire, and soon the exodus of passengers stopped. At that point, the passersby who had stopped to help could not reach those still aboard due to the raging fire, and turned their efforts to tending to the crowd of 40 mostly injured survivors. Soon the entire interior of the bus flashed over, ultimately burning the trapped 27 people remaining aboard.

After first responders treated and transported survivors and extinguished the fire, a crane was used to load the bus onto a flatbed truck that transported the bus and those persons killed to the [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] Armory in Carrollton. There, the [[Kentucky State Police]] and the Carroll County [[coroner]] went through the interior of the bus seat by seat to find and remove bodies, most of which were burned beyond recognition.{{sfn|Kunen|1994|p=73}}