The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3 killed in bus crash in Queens
16 injured, major thoroughfare shut down in collision.
Josh Engel Bromwich and Elizabeth A. Harris ©2017 The New York Times
NEW YORK — At least three people were killed and 16 were injured when a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus and a charter bus collided in Queens early Monday, authorities said.
One of the dead was a pedestrian, discovered trapped underneath one of the buses; one was a passenger on the city bus, and the third was the driver of the charter bus, authorities said at a news conference at the crash site. Their names have not been released.
“We’ve had a really tragic morning here in Flushing, Queens,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “It’s just shocking to see the scene over there. Hard to compare it to anything I’ve ever seen — the sheer destruction from the impact of the collision.”
The city bus, a Q20, and the other bus, with Dahlia Travel and Tours, crashed around 6:15 a.m. at Main Street and Northern Boulevard, a busy intersection in the Flushing neighborhood, said Lee Jones, a Police Department spokesman. The buses spun around on impact. The tour bus slammed into a Kennedy Fried Chicken restaurant, igniting a fire. The Department of Buildings was inspecting the structure to make sure that it was “not posing a danger itself,” de Blasio said.
At the scene Monday morning, the carnage was still visible to passers-by on their commute. Emergency service personnel shut down the major thoroughfare, snarling traffic. Firefighters had extinguished the blaze and were removing passengers more than an hour after the crash, the Fire Department said in a statement.
The critically injured were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Queens; noncritical patients were being treated at Elmhurst Hospital Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center, according to Michael Fitton, assistant chief of emergency medical services.
The city bus had been making a right turn when it was struck by the tour bus, according to Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He said that at least 15 people were on the city bus.
A person answering the phone for Dahlia in Flushing confirmed that one of the company’s buses had been involved in the crash but declined to give his name or to answer any questions. Last year, a bus owned by the company and operated by a company called VMC East Coast overturned during snowy weather en route to a Connecticut casino, injuring 30 people.
The city bus driver in Monday’s crash, who had 10 years of experience, said Joe Lhota, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was in the hospital in noncritical condition.
“It’s a sad day when three fellow New Yorkers perish while they’re getting to work,” Lhota said. He said that city officials were “very concerned about the speed” involved in the accident.
Yung Lim, 62, said her husband, Sang Kang, was sitting in his car when it was hit by the two buses. She said he was sent to Elmhurst Hospital with noncritical injuries.
Lim said her husband had just bought coffee at the corner store, which was pulverized seconds later.