Federal Safety Inspectors Investigate Deadly New York Bus Crash |
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VOA Breaking News (Voice of America)
March 13, 2011 at 4:35 pm
U.S. state and federal investigators are trying to figure out what caused a grisly pre-dawn bus crash Saturday that killed 14 people and critically injured several more.
The tour bus was returning to New York City's Chinatown from a casino in the neighboring state of Connecticut.
State police are investigating reports that the bus was speeding when it ran off the road, overturned, and crashed into a support post for a highway sign that sliced the bus nearly in half.
A spokesman for the New York state police, Michael Kopy, told reporters late Saturday that the crash is being handled “as if it is a criminal investigation.”
The bus driver, who survived the crash with non-life-threatening injuries, told police a tractor-trailer truck had bumped the bus, knocking him off the road.
But some of the 17 surviving passengers reported that the bus driver appeared sleepy and was driving erratically. Experts are examining surveillance equipment from inside the bus that could support or disprove those reports.
The bus company, World Wide Tours, has issued a statement saying the company is “heartbroken” over the accident and complying fully with investigators.
VOA Breaking News (Voice of America)
March 13, 2011 at 5:05 am
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigators are looking into a tour bush crash that killed 14 people and critically injured five early Saturday in New York City.
Police say the tour bus flipped on its side and crashed into a large support post for a highway sign.
Police said the bus driver told them a tractor trailer clipped the bus from behind, sending it swerving and skidding into the sign support.
The Associated Press s says police have interviewed the driver of a tractor-trailer who was in the area at the time of the crash.
Police say they are still trying to determine if the bus was hit or if the bus driver caused the vehicle to swerve.
All the survivors of the crash were injured, including the driver. The bus, which was carrying 32 people. was returning to the city from a trip to a casino in the neighboring state of Connecticut.