‘Horrific’ limo crash kills 20 in New York
Vehicle failed to stop at intersection and hit parked SUV
“This is a wonderful, smallknit community of people who care about each other.”
Twenty people were dead and a picturesque, upstate New York community was in shock and mourning Sunday after a “horrific” crash of a limousine van near an intersection of rural, winding roads.
State police spokesman Christopher Fiore said the limousine failed to stop at the intersection in the town of Schoharie and slammed into a parked, unoccupied SUV. Eighteen people in the limousine, including the driver, and two pedestrians were killed in the crash Saturday, he said.
“Everyone inside the limousine was killed,” Fiore said.
Liz Gallup
Lives and works in Schoharie, New York
The National Transportation Safety Board was on the scene. Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said it was the biggest U.S. transportation accident since 2009.
“Twenty fatalities is just horrific,” he said.
An aunt of one of the victims in the vehicle said the group had been on the way to a birthday celebration.
The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine was traveling southwest on Route 30 in Schoharie around 2 p.m. when it failed to stop at a T-junction with state Route 30A and crashed into an SUV parked at the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe, Fiore said.
He didn’t comment on speed or whether the occupants of the vehicle had been wearing seat belts.
The crash “sounded like an explosion,” said Linda Riley of nearby Schenectady, who was on a shopping trip with her sisters. When she got out of her vehicle, Riley said, she saw a body on the ground and people started screaming.
Authorities didn’t release names of victims or other specifics, but state police set up a hotline for family members.
Speaking through tears, Valerie Abeling said her niece Erin Vertucci was among the victims, with her newlywed husband, Shane McGowan. Abeling said they were headed to a friend’s birthday party when the crash occurred. She said her own daughter had been invited along but couldn’t go.
“She was a beautiful, sweet soul; he was, too,” Abeling said of the two victims, adding they were married in June. “They had everything going for them.”
Schoharie is a town of 3,300 people about 160 miles north of New York City.
The crash took place in an area popular with tourists during the fall foliage season. The Apple Barrel owners posted condolences on Facebook and said the store was open Sunday to share “hugs” with neighbors.
“This is a wonderful, small-knit community of people who care about each other,” Liz Gallup, who works at the store and has lived nearby for almost 60 years, told USA TODAY. “People are coming in, they are hugging, they are sharing.”
The limousine ended up in a deep ditch along the side of the road. Gallup said she was glad the store opened, despite the investigation taking place outside.
“To be closed would have been harder for everyone,” she said. “People want to know we are OK.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a statement that state police are working with federal and local authorities investigating the crash.
“My heart breaks for the 20 people who lost their lives in this horrific accident on Saturday in Schoharie,” the statement said.