Charter bus injuring dozens
LAKEVIEW, Long Island, N.Y. — A chartered school bus carrying high school students returning from a trip abroad slammed into an overpass. At least six people on board sustained critical injuries, and another 37 people suffered some degree of injury in the crash. The collision happened on the Southern State Parkway around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 9, 2019, as reported by the news website MENAFN.com. The students were returning home from an academic trip to Eastern Europe during their spring recess. Fortunately, all victims who were injured in the crash survived.
Students told news reporters that they knew the bus in which they were riding did not belong on the Southern State Parkway on Long Island when passersby started tooting their horns to get the attention of the school bus driver. The bus driver, according to CBS New York, was from Pennsylvania and was not familiar with the area. Otherwise, he would have known that large trucks and charter buses like the bus he drove were not allowed on the Southern State Parkway due to height restrictions. Ignorance of the local rules almost proved fatal, despite the genuine sense of remorse the driver expressed.
Around 9:00 p.m., the bus slammed into the stone Eagle Avenue overpass in Lakeview. The overpass has a clearance of seven feet, seven inches. The bus was much taller than that. The roof of the charter bus was crushed in as it struck the overpass.
One student shared a cellphone video from the aftermath of the crash with the media. The video shows the teens screaming in panic and horror as they scrambled to flee the wreckage. Each of the 38 students, aged 15 to 18, were transported to local hospitals for examination. Two of those students required further observation due to the seriousness of their injuries.
New York State Police troopers investigated the accident. They said that the bus driver passed an alcohol test administered after the crash.
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