EAGLE PASS — A few days after his 21st birthday, Daniel Garcia stepped onto a white charter bus in McAllen with his parents, friends, and girlfriend, hoping to continue the celebration at the only casino in South Texas.
It was about 6 a.m. on a Sunday, and Garcia’s crew was among more than 30 people signed on for the trip.
“This was my idea. I turned 21, and I wanted to go gamble but Las Vegas was too far, so this was perfect,” the Alton resident said. “It was weird because I had never heard about these buses until we booked our trip. Then the crash happened, and we were going to the same place.”
On May 14, a similar charter bus headed to the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel crashed near Laredo, killing nine people and injuring 43 others. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the driver, OGA Charters, which owned the bus, and any factors that could have led to the crash, but it could take up to 14 months for investigators to determine a cause.
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