TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Canada - Toronto & Southern Ont.
-- 'Bodies everywhere' after NYC bus crash
'Bodies everywhere' after NYC bus crash
This is fucked up.
Police in New York City 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.
The driver, Ophadell Williams, told police 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 early Saturday.
But New York state police said witnesses told them Williams was speeding on Interstate 95 before the crash, which left a horrific scene of blood, jumbled bodies and shattered glass near an next to
the Bronx.
Fourteen passengers on this tour bus died in the weekend crash in New York City.Fourteen passengers on this tour bus died in the weekend crash in New York City. Frank Becerra Jr./Journal News/Associated Press
The 14 who died had taken a quick overnight trip to the casino and were returning to New York's Chinatown.
Police officers who clambered onto the wreckage, found "bodies everywhere," said Capt. Matthew Galvin of the NYPD 's emergency service unit, one of the first rescuers on the scene. "People were moaning and screaming for help."
Some of the dead were tangled up with the living, he said. Though dazed, about seven people were able to walk away from the wreck on their own, he said.
"It's probably the worst accident I've ever seen in terms of the human toll," said Galvin, who has been a police offer 22 years.
As many as 20 passengers were treated at area hospitals. Eight were in serious condition, according to police. Several needed surgery.
The crash happened at 5:35 a.m. Saturday, with some of the 31 passengers still asleep. The bus scraped along the guard rail for about 90 metres, 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 Maj. Michael Kopy said at a news conference Saturday night in Hawthorne, N.Y., 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 kilometres an hour.
Williams, a 40-year-old bus driver from Brooklyn, was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Kopy said blood had been drawn from the driver for analysis and that state police were working with authorities in Connecticut and Mohegan Sun officials to determine what the driver's activities were before the accident.
"At this point it appears that the operator lost control of the vehicle for what is as yet an undetermined reason," Kopy said.
He declined to identify the passengers or to describe their injuries. "The pole did go through the top half of the bus," he said.
Surrounded by dead
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 seatbelt, surrounded by the dead and screaming. One man bled from a severed arm.
Ninh said that when he tried to help one bloodied woman, the driver told him to stop, because she was dead. "'Forget this one. Help another one,"' he said the driver told him. He said he and other passengers who were able climbed out through a skylight.
Passenger Jose Hernandez, 49, said he also was asleep at the time of the crash.
"We tried to help people, but there was twisted metal in the way," Hernandez told the Times.
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said earlier that police were looking for the tractor-trailer, which did not stop after the crash. He said the truck was in a lane to the bus's left, although it was unclear whether the two vehicles touched.
State police said later they were interviewing the driver of a tractor-trailer in the area at the time of the crash. They said the trailer had been located on Long Island and the tractor was found in Westchester County. Both were being inspected in Farmingdale, on Long Island, to determine if they might have clipped the bus.
Video from a camera on the bus had been obtained by authorities, but not yet analyzed, Kopy said.
Kelly said investigators were trying to determine the exact speed the bus was travelling before the crash. A device that can record such information, similar to a flight data recorder on an airplane, was expected to be examined overnight.
Limo driver Homer Martinez happened on the scene moments after the wreck and saw other drivers sprinting from their cars to assist the injured.
"People were saying, 'Oh my God. Oh my God,' holding their hands on their heads," Martinez said. "I saw people telling other people not to go there, 'You don't want to see this."'
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators.
Christopher Hart, the vice-chair of the board, said the team would be looking at the motor carrier's safety programs, including those involving driver fatigue, as well as highway design and the bus itself. He said that part of the investigation could take several days.
Many of the passengers on the bus were Chinatown residents. They ranged in age from 20 to 50, officials said. Fifteen were being treated at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
A hospital spokeswoman, Barbara DeIorio, said some injuries were serious but had no immediate information on how many were gravely hurt. Five more were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, where two were on life support, breathing with the assistance of machines.
World Wide Travel of Greater New York, the operator of the bus, said in a statement that the company was "heartbroken" and co-operating with investigators.
"We are a family-owned company and realize words cannot begin to express our sorrow to the families of those who lost their lives or were injured in this tragic accident.," she said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them."
LINK
Am I seeing this... the bus was cut in half by the pole?
Holy shat, what are the odds of that... Brutal
That's fucked!! 
RIP to those that never made it.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by jester Am I seeing this... the bus was cut in half by the pole? |
i can just imagine the decapitations on that bus.
all my people too. RIP uncles and aunties.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by chinamon i can just imagine the decapitations on that bus. all my people too. RIP uncles and aunties. |
very tragic...iam waiting for the results of the investigation to come out, but from past expereince alot of those casino buses speed and break alot of laws on the road...the record of this bus company has alot of violations and such
Even if you were ducking you would probably die. To almost sure of safety, youd have to be somewhere between the headrest and the ceiling.. or in the washroom or the back seats...
CRAZY! RIP
man, this is like that Megabus crush all over
| quote: |
| Originally posted by AY STAR very tragic...iam waiting for the results of the investigation to come out, but from past expereince alot of those casino buses speed and break alot of laws on the road...the record of this bus company has alot of violations and such |
Terrible accident! ouch!
I can only relate to this incident to a small degree but four years ago I was in a coach bus accident. Funny how it happened around the same time too. It was a breakaway tours spring break trip to panama city and it seemed like bus troubles couldn't escape us. Bus broke down just outside of Detroit where we waited 3 hours along the I-75 with cars and trucks wizzing by our bus for a new bus to take us. We make it to a few hours from our destination where the 2nd bus breaks down. We wait another 3 hrs for a bus to come from Panama city to pick us up. A week later and a beat up liver, we head home. Our bus switches drivers halfway through (12 hrs later) and the time is about midnight. We notice right away that this driver is in a rush, must have been travelling at least 110km/hr as every curve we took, the bus would sway severely.
Around 4 am, I wake up randomly to find most people asleep and a movie on the bus monitors. Couple minutes later, a big thud and it felt like someone picked up the bus and started shaking it. Bus went into the median ditch losing control and clipping young trees. We were out of control long enough for me to go from a seated forward position to a sideways one grasping onto mine and the seat in front's head rests cuz for some I thought it would be smarter that way since my head kept bumping onto the overhead compartments (needed to grab onto something). Finally it all stopped and once everyone got a grasp of everything, people were crying, in pain, my knees were pretty f'd and a big welt was forming on my head. Sirens could be heard very quickly (someone prob called in saying a coach bus got in an accident). Not even exaggerating, 20+ ambulances, fire trucks, cop cars from various districts came to our aid. Bout 75% of the bus went to the hospitals to get checked out.
After everyone made it back to the hotel that we regrouped at, the bus driver made an announcement to us saying "I know many of you think that this was my fault but this is what happened.." Turns out an 18 wheeler lost one of its tires, it slammed into the driver's windshield. I still have issues driving on the highway with lots of trucks around (have to constantly speed past them). Clearly mine is nowhere near this horrific one, so RIP to those who suffered a terrible death
| quote: |
| Originally posted by FunkyCrew man, this is like that Megabus crush all over |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Endlesswave What megabus crash?? I've taken them a bunch of times, probably 4 or so (first time w Alex actually) without any real issues. |
Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.