The support bus for Team Wheel malfunctioned on a steep hill heading into Guttenberg and crashed on Saturday, the last day of RAGBRAI.
A passenger, Brandi Helmkamp, 30, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, was thrown from the bus during the accident and was airlifted to University Hospitals in Iowa City where she was admitted in serious condition, reported the Des Moines Register. The driver, Ronald Laing, 40, of Des Moines was treated and released from Guttenberg Municipal Hospital after he was pulled from the wreckage. (UPDATED 8/4/05: Helmkamp's condition improves.)
Police told the Des Moines Register that the driver of the converted school bus lost his brakes and the bus sped downhill out of control. The driver swerved into the empty oncoming lane of traffic to miss some vehicles ahead of him, the bus jumped the curb, dislodged some railroad tracks and ended up in a ditch, where it burst into flames.
No one on bicycle was injured in the accident.
RAGBRAI concluded its 485-mile tour across Iowa for more than 8,500 participants on Saturday. A man tenting in a private yard in Sheldon died last Sunday night after the first day's ride when a severe thunderstorm broke a tree branch which crushed the tent.
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