KIDS' BUS ORDEAL
Roof ripped off in LI highway smash
A bus carrying a group of highschool students who had just returned from a spring-break trip to Europe slammed into an overpass on a Long Island highway Sunday night, leaving the roof torn off.
The charter bus crashed at about 9 p.m. into the low bridge in Lakeview on the Southern State Parkway — where such vehicles are restricted from traveling — severely injuring at least six people, one critically, lawenforcement sources said.
“There was glass everywhere,” said James Cardi, who was in a passing car. “A majority of the kids were standing by the guardrail, but there e were people still trapped inside. ”
The bus was carrying 38 students, one driver and five chaperones, according to Commander Major David Candelaria of the New York State Police.
The students were between 16 and 18 years old.
“Apparently, students were on a spring break trip to Europe,” Candelaria said. “The bus was traveling from JFK to the Walt Whitman Mall in Suffolk County to meet their parents.”
In addition to the victim who was in critical condition, five others were listed as serious. The rest sustained minor injuries.
The students were on a trip booked through EF Educational Tours. The jaunt was not school-sanctioned, and it was not immediately clear which school or schools the students attend.
The bus was chartered through Journey Bus Lines in Irvington, NJ, police said.
“The driver wasn’t from the Long Island area. He might have been from New Jersey or Pennsylvania,” Candelaria said.
The accident was still under investigation in the early hours of Monday morning.
EF Tours could not be reached for comment Sunday night. A person who answered the phone at Journey Bus Lines said no one was available to comment at the moment.