Deadly limo stretched by 15 feet

The limousine that crashed and killed 20 people upstate last October had undergone extensive modifications, a report released on Monday by the National Transportation Safety Board showed.

The 2001 Ford Excursion was 137 inches long when it was manufactured, but had been extended by 15 feet to accommodate 18 passengers, the preliminary report said.

Seats added in the modification were not forward-facing but they were equipped with lap seat belts. according to the report. It remains unclear if the limo passengers were wearing seat belts when it crashed.

Only the limo driver and front seat passenger were required by law to wear seat belts.

The limo failed a safety inspection a month before the crash and should not have been on the road, and its driver did not have the necessary commercial license to operate it.

The 53-year-old driver and 17 people on their way to a birthday party were killed.

The limo was booked for a trip from Amsterdam to Cooperstown with stops along the way, the report noted. When it approached the intersection of NY-30 and NY-30A, it did not stop as required. Instead, it veered into a restaurant parking lot, collided with a 2015 Toyota Highlander and killed two people before rolling into a ravine.

The crash, which occurred 170 miles north of the city in Schoharie, was the deadliest U.S. transportation disaster since 50 people died in the February 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo.

The NTSB did not say if the changes to the limo were legal.

Nauman Hussain, who operated the company that owned the limo, was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide the week after the crash. Last month, Hussain was sued by victims’ families.

NTSB spokesman Eric Weiss said that in the coming months the board will release a final report that includes a probable cause of the crash and any policy recommendations.