14 killed in New York City bus crash
Source: Agencies |
March 14, 2011, Monday
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POLICE in New York were investigating a bus driver's claim that he was driven off a major highway before his bus slid into a sign pole that sheared it end to end, killing 14 people and leaving others maimed in a horrific scene of blood, jumbled bodies and shattered glass.
The driver, Ophadell Williams, told police that a tractor-trailer clipped his World Wide Tours bus just as it crossed the city line on a trip from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. But state police said witnesses told them Williams was speeding before Saturday morning's crash on Interstate 95.
The crash, one of the deadliest bus accidents in the United States in years, killed 14 people who had traveled for a quick overnight trip to the casino and were returning to New York's Chinatown.
Captain Matthew Galvin of New York Police Department's Emergency Service Unit was one of the first rescuers on the scene. He said when officers went into the wreckage, they found -"bodies everywhere."
"People were moaning and screaming for help," he said. Some of the dead were tangled up with the living.
Though dazed, about seven people were able to walk away from the wreck on their own, he said. Galvin said that in his 22 years on the job, "It's probably the worst accident I've ever seen in terms of the human toll."
As many as 20 passengers were treated at area hospitals. Eight were in serious condition, according to -police. Several were in surgery later in the day.
The crash happened at 5:35am on Saturday, with some of the 31 passengers still asleep. The bus scraped along the guard rail for 90 meters, toppled and crashed into the support pole for a highway sign indicating the exit for the Hutchinson Parkway.
The pole knifed through the bus front to back along the window line, peeling the roof off all the way to the back tires. Most people aboard were hurled to the front of the bus on impact, fire department chief Edward Kilduff said.
The southbound lanes of the highway were closed for hours while emergency workers tended to survivors and removed bodies.
State police Major Michael Kopy said at a news conference on Saturday night in Hawthorne, New York, that the crash was being handled "as if it is a criminal investigation."
"It will take a long period of time to determine what, if any, criminal acts may have occurred here," he said.
Kopy said police had received reports from witnesses that the bus driver had been speeding on the interstate, where the limit is 90 -kilometers per hour.
"At this point it appears that the operator lost control of the vehicle for what is as yet an undetermined reason," Kopy said.
Chung Ninh, 59, told The New York Times and NY1 News that he had been asleep in his seat, then suddenly found himself hanging upside-down from his seat belt, surrounded by the dead and screaming. One man bled from a severed arm.
Ninh said when he tried to help one bloodied woman, the driver told him to stop, because she was dead.
The driver, Ophadell Williams, told police that a tractor-trailer clipped his World Wide Tours bus just as it crossed the city line on a trip from the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. But state police said witnesses told them Williams was speeding before Saturday morning's crash on Interstate 95.
The crash, one of the deadliest bus accidents in the United States in years, killed 14 people who had traveled for a quick overnight trip to the casino and were returning to New York's Chinatown.
Captain Matthew Galvin of New York Police Department's Emergency Service Unit was one of the first rescuers on the scene. He said when officers went into the wreckage, they found -"bodies everywhere."
"People were moaning and screaming for help," he said. Some of the dead were tangled up with the living.
Though dazed, about seven people were able to walk away from the wreck on their own, he said. Galvin said that in his 22 years on the job, "It's probably the worst accident I've ever seen in terms of the human toll."
As many as 20 passengers were treated at area hospitals. Eight were in serious condition, according to -police. Several were in surgery later in the day.
The crash happened at 5:35am on Saturday, with some of the 31 passengers still asleep. The bus scraped along the guard rail for 90 meters, toppled and crashed into the support pole for a highway sign indicating the exit for the Hutchinson Parkway.
The pole knifed through the bus front to back along the window line, peeling the roof off all the way to the back tires. Most people aboard were hurled to the front of the bus on impact, fire department chief Edward Kilduff said.
The southbound lanes of the highway were closed for hours while emergency workers tended to survivors and removed bodies.
State police Major Michael Kopy said at a news conference on Saturday night in Hawthorne, New York, that the crash was being handled "as if it is a criminal investigation."
"It will take a long period of time to determine what, if any, criminal acts may have occurred here," he said.
Kopy said police had received reports from witnesses that the bus driver had been speeding on the interstate, where the limit is 90 -kilometers per hour.
"At this point it appears that the operator lost control of the vehicle for what is as yet an undetermined reason," Kopy said.
Chung Ninh, 59, told The New York Times and NY1 News that he had been asleep in his seat, then suddenly found himself hanging upside-down from his seat belt, surrounded by the dead and screaming. One man bled from a severed arm.
Ninh said when he tried to help one bloodied woman, the driver told him to stop, because she was dead.
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