13 dead in Bronx tour bus crash after flipping on busy highway

13 dead in Bronx tour bus crash after flipping on busy highway

 

• Bus was carrying 31 people from Connecticut casino 

• It was hit by tractor-trailer on New England Thruway

Fourteen passengers died and eight were left in a critical condition today after a tour bus was sliced in half in a horror crash on a busy New York highway this morning.

The bus, carrying 31 passengers, was clipped by a tractor-trailer at 5.37am causing it to flip onto its side, slide 250 yards and smash into the stiff metal posts of an overhanging road sign.

It hit with such force that nearly the entire roof was torn off as the pole ripped through the windscreen and along the middle of the bus - destroying the inside.

Tragedy: At least 13 people died after the tour bus overturned on a highway in the Bronx, New York today

 

Shocked: First responders have been offered counselling because of the horrific nature of the crash

Police are talking with the driver, who survived, as they try to track down the tractor-trailer's driver.

The bus was travelling in the middle lane with the truck in the left lane.

According to witnesses, the truck swerved in its lane, clipping the bus and causing the driver to pull across the carriageway, losing control and ending up wrapped around the signage.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said both vehicles were travelling 'at a significant rate of speed.'

'We are attempting to track the truck and the truck driver. We have a partial number plate.'

He added, the majority of the passengers were Asian and that Chinese-speaking police officers were speaking to those less badly injured to take statements.

One survivor told the New York Daily News how he was sleeping when the bus crashed.

'I opened my eyes - I was on the ground. I saw big piece of metal - the bus was in two parts,' the man, who gave his name as Victor, told the paper.

The bus only came to a stop after nearly being sliced in half when it smashed side on into a reinforced steel pole

Casino: The fateful journey started at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, at 3.45am and was supposed to deliver its mainly Asian passengers to Manhattan's Chinatown

'I saw people split open. It was awful. I tried to help. I crawled out through the emergency window in the back.'

An FDNY spokesman said that because of the devastating nature of the crash, first responders to the scene are being offered counselling.

The World Wide Tours coach was travelling along the New England Thruway in the Bronx taking passengers from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut to Manhattan.

Dozens of firefighters at the scene were sawing away parts of the bus to remove trapped passengers.

Sparks could be seen flying off the roof and the walking wounded were taken from the scene by paramedics.

Critically injured passengers were rushed to nearby Jacobi Medical Center and St Barnabus Hospital as the road was sealed off.

A New York Fire Department spokesman confirmed 11 other passengers sustained minor injuries.

Traffic is now open on the northbound I-95 Highway, but the southbound carriageway remains completely shut at the junction with Hutchison Parkway.

The bus left the casino at 3:45 am this morning and was heading to drop off passengers in Manhattan's Chinatown district.

World Wide Tours, based in Brooklyn, declined to comment.