A Chinese-based travel company overseeing a U.S. trip that ended in a deadly tour bus crash in southern Utah defended its licensing Monday and the bus driver at the wheel.
Parent company U-Tour Group in Shanghai, China, said in a statement the driver was qualified, the bus was insured, and the travel agency was properly registered with China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The driver was on his first trip when the bus crashed in the red rock landscape of southern Utah, killing four Chinese tourists and leaving dozens more injured, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigators.