AP: Transportation and Safety Board orders bus companies to cease operations; bus sitting in Carthage taken out of service

A bus that did make it to the Marian Days observance in Carthage was among those shut down today when the National Transportation and Safety Board ordered the companies involved in the bus crash that killed 17 Friday to cease operations, according to Associated Press:

A bus run by the same company linked to a deadly Texas crash and being used by pilgrims heading to the same festival as the 17 victims failed an inspection and was pulled out of service, authorities said Sunday.

The bus was pulled from operation in Carthage, Mo., where members of three Vietnamese Catholic congregations in Houston were headed when their bus blew a tire and skidded off the highway, said Robert Accetta, the leader of the National Transportation Safety Board team investigating the crash.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered Iguala BusMex and Angel Tours Inc. to cease commercial operations Sunday, finding that the companies posed an "imminent hazard." A second order issued to Angel De La Torre, owner and president of the Houston-based companies, finds that his "activities in connection with motor carrier operations pose an 'imminent hazard' to the public."

The bus inspected in Carthage was registered to Iguala Busmex, said NTSB spokeswoman Debbie Hersman.