The Associated Press
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A luxury bus from New York City’s Chinatown to Philadelphia crashed Monday night on one of the nation’s most heavily trafficked highways, killing the driver and another person, police said.
The driver, a 50-year-old Taiwanese national, was thrown through the windshield, and several passengers were badly injured in the New Jersey Turnpike crash, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said.
The other person who was killed was a male passenger, who died after being transported to a hospital in New Brunswick. About 40 passengers were sent to area hospitals, and at least five were in a trauma unit, Jones said. Police believe there were 44 or 45 people on the bus, which was a private charter, Jones said.
The one-vehicle crash happened just days after a bus from an Uncasville, Conn., casino crashed as it was returning to New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood, in downtown Manhattan, killing 15 people.
The bus in Monday’s crash, operated by a Pennsylvania company, is believed to have entered the grass along the center median before striking an overpass support and hitting an embankment along the right side of the road, Jones said. It was traveling south on the turnpike when the crash occurred around 9 p.m. Monday just south of Exit 9 in East Brunswick, about 40 miles southwest of Manhattan, but it didn’t flip onto its side as initially believed, police said.
The turnpike, which handled more than 235 million vehicles two years ago, generally has five lanes in each direction. The crash closed two southbound outer lanes.
The cause of the crash hadn’t been determined.
The white tour bus had no visible signage on it. After the crash, it came to a stop at an angle with its damaged front section pointed off the highway and onto the grassy median.
The bus was being moved overnight to an impound lot. State police said it would be mechanically inspected Tuesday and all available data would be taken from its electronic components.
The bus was operated by Super Luxury Tours Inc., of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., state police said. No website or telephone listing for the company could be found.
The driver was from the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, one of New York City’s five boroughs.