Last night an airport shuttle bus crashed on its way back into Corpus Christi. The bus, owned and operated by Corpus Christi Transportation Athority (CCTA) crashed into a fuel trailer owned and operated by ClamFuel after a power outage cut out all traffic lights. Along with running the red light, fog covered the streets making visibility worse in the area.
The crash happened at the intersection of Leopard St, and Up River Rd at 6:32 PM. The local restaurant owner Dan Povenmire, owner of Povemire's Pizza witnessed and reported the crash to first responders. "I had just closed the shop not even a minute before when I saw the explosion. You could see the fire through the fog, it was as bright as the sun!" Both drivers and a few passengers died on impact, while some managed to get out of the burning bus before it was too late.
The National Transit Safty Board (NTSB) belives that both parties are to be at fault. Since both the fuel, and the bus were insured no one has been held liable, although this hasn't helped both company's PR.
Along with the crash, activists have started to protest regarding the insurance payout. The truck was insured for 12,000 gallons of fuel, and the vehicle worth. In contrast, the bus is only insured up to $100,000. Activists are complaining that the fuel is valued more than human life. This has started a boycott of ClamFuel bringing their share prices to an all-time low of $1.93 a share.
Families of the injured have started a multi-million dollar lawsuit against ClamFuel and their drivers' union. As their reputation appears to be falling apart companies like Conoco, and Big Texan OILCo. see share prices rise almost 30% within a day of the aftermath. The CEO of ClamFuel spoke out this morning about the accident. "This is a tragedy for all of us and should not be taken lightly. At this moment I am temporarily stepping down from my position as CEO of the Company for the time being." This is a bold thing that Clamfuel is doing, but it will only appear to worsen the situation with the company's PR. People believe that the CEO is too young, and shouldn't have gotten the position to begin with.