At least five people, including a child, were killed after a tour bus carrying 51 people crashed in upstate New York on its way back from a trip to Niagra Falls on Friday.
The passengers were initially trapped in the wreckage, according to law enforcement, and then admitted to hospitals in the region where more than 40 of them were evaluated or treated with injuries ranging from head trauma to broken arms and legs.
The bus, which had 52 passengers onboard, including the driver, was traveling eastbound when it apparently lost control on Interstate 90 near the Pembroke exit, roughly 25 miles (40km) east of Buffalo. It went into the median and then ended up in a ditch on the right side of the road, New York state trooper James O’Callaghan said.
O’Callaghan told reporters at the scene that “the bus did roll” and most people had not been wearing seat belts. People inside were ejected as the windows shattered. “There were multiple ejections,” he said. “There were multiple people trapped and there’s multiple fatalities, and this includes children as well.”
The driver survived. “The driver is alive and well,” O’Callaghan said. “We’re working with him. We believe we have a good idea of what happened, why the bus lost control.”
He did not provide further details.
Photos from witnesses showed the bus tipped on its side near the road, with emergency crews and medical helicopters rushing victims to hospitals.
“There was glass all over the road and people’s stuff all over the road,” Powell Stephens of Medina told the Buffalo News after passing the scene. “Windows were all shattered.”
The tour bus was heading back to New York City from the famous falls on the US-Canada border, when it crashed between Buffalo and Rochester.
O’Callaghan said the tourists were chiefly of Indian, Chinese and Filipino origin, and officials were trying to get interpreters to the scene.
The interstate highway was blocked, and O’Callaghan said there were multiple entrapments and people were being taken to local hospitals.
The Mercy Flight medical transport service said its three helicopters, and three more from other services transported people from the crash site.
At a news conference at Erie county medical center later in the day, Dr Samuel Cloud, the facility’s chief medical officer, said the crash was “probably the most trauma patients from one incident in my career here in Buffalo”. Two people who needed surgery at the center were expected to recover, said Dr Jeffrey Brewer, chief of surgery.
The New York State Thruway Authority announced that a significant section of the highway was shut down in both directions. Officials urged drivers to avoid the area.
Kathy Hochul, the New York governor, wrote on X that she had been updated on “the tragic tour bus accident” – and that her office was coordinating with law enforcement and local agencies.
Letitia James, the attorney general, also posted on X: “This bus crash is heartbreaking, and I’m praying for everyone [affected]. Grateful to our first responders on the scene working to rescue and help people.”
