2nd Passenger Dies After NYC-Bound Bus Crashes In Delaware
NEW CASTLE, Del. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A second passenger has died after a New York-bound bus carrying dozens of people crashed and overturned in Delaware, authorities said.
Officials said the accident did not involve other vehicles and happened around 4:20 p.m. Sunday in New Castle in the northern part of the state, south of Wilmington.
In a news release, Delaware State Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Shavack said there were 49 passengers on the bus when it was traveling on an exit ramp.
The bus was going through a curve when it left the road and overturned. The bus slid on its roof down a grass embankment and came to rest on its left side, Shavack said.
Hua'y Chen, a 54-year-old woman from New York City, was found under the bus and was pronounced dead at the scene, Shavack said. Idil Bahsi, a 30-year-old woman from Istanbul, Turkey, was taken to a hospital and died Sunday night.
The other passengers were taken to area hospitals for injuries varying in severity.
State police say drugs and alcohol didn't play a role. No charges have been filed.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Investigators were interviewing the bus driver, 56-year-old Jinli Zhao, of Flushing, Queens, who was not critically injured, authorities said.
Jerry Zhang, a tour guide for the company that hired the bus, said he has worked with Zhao several times.
"He is a very experienced driver, senior driver," Zhang told CBS 2's Weijia Jiang. "And he drive about more than like 20 years. But I don't know what happened to him."
The passengers were taking a three-day sightseeing tour to Washington that began Friday in New York, authorities said. The crash happened as the bus was heading back to New York City.
Elvis D'cruz, 19, said he was driving in the area with a friend when he came upon the overturned bus. He said he and his friend pulled over and were there before first responders arrived.
"Everyone was in so much pain, and they were just crying out for their loved ones," he said. "It was just so frantic.
He said the group of passengers included mostly adults, many of them speaking different languages, including Hindi, Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese.
"There was not one person without blood on them,'' he said, adding that he and his friend handed out items from a first-aid kit.
"Their wounds are just so -- it's almost like from a war zone," D'cruz added.
D'cruz said the bus had overturned on an off-ramp from Delaware's Route 1 that is known for being steep.
No one answered the door Monday at Am USA Express Inc., the Chinatown-based owner of the 18-year-old bus.
In the past two years, the bus company has received 18 violations from the Department of Transportation for faulty equipment and drivers working long hours, CBS 2 reported. Records show the company was involved in one other crash over the past two years, with no one hurt.
Photographs taken at the scene showed the bus lying on the driver's side on a grassy shoulder. At least two people with neck braces could be seen lying in the grass while a group of others were sitting nearby.
Video footage taken at the site showed emergency officials leaning over to attend the injured and placing victims on stretchers as ambulances and other emergency vehicles stood by.
Debris was scattered about and a ladder had been set up alongside the overturned bus. Later photographs published online showed the bus had been righted.
NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said the first phase of the investigation will last three or four days, with a preliminary report likely available next week.
On Monday morning, another Washington-bound bus left New York with worried passengers.
"How could this happen?" one woman asked, speaking Chinese.
Another man said what matters to him is how the bus company responds.
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