2 ILLINOIS MEN KILLED WHILE STANDING IN AN OPEN-AIR DOUBLE DECKER BUS
Two passengers standing on the top level of a double-decker bus were killed when their heads struck the Interstate 57 overpass on Illinois Highway 16 in Mattoon, just west of Charleston, IL. The 22-year-olds were returning on the rented bus from a day of boating at Lake Shelbyville, about 200 miles south of Chicago. There were about 50 people on the bus and most of the students were from Eastern Illinois University.
The tragedy occurred about 7:24 p.m. After the accident, the bus driver drove the victims to the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon. They were taken to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, where they were pronounced dead Sunday morning.
One of the young men was from Yorkville, IL and the other from Clarendon Hills, IL, a Chicago-suburb. The young man from Yorkville was described in news reports as an avid outdoorsman. The young man from Clarendon Hills was an active member of his fraternity and his former roommate described him as "the nicest man you would ever want to meet." It is a horrible tragedy that these two individuals died in this preventable incident.
