20 killed in ‘horrific’ New York limo crash
All 18 passengers and two pedestrians dead; upstate community in shock
Twenty people were dead and a picturesque community in upstate New York 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.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said it was the biggest U.S. transportation accident since 2009. “Twenty fatalities is just horrific,” he said.
The group had been on the way to a birthday celebration.
The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine crashed into an SUV parked at the Apple Barrel Country Store and Cafe around 2 p.m., Fiore said.
He didn’t comment on speed or whether the occupants of the vehicle wore 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.
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 but couldn’t go.
“She was a beautiful, sweet soul; he was, too,” Abeling said of the two victims, who 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 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.