Associated Press
DONEGAL, Pa. — A tour bus carrying Asian tourists rear-ended a flatbed tractor-trailer on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, killing the bus driver and injuring nearly two dozen passengers, officials said.
The driver became trapped after the accident near the Donegal exit, about 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, said turnpike communications director Bill Capone. Twenty-two of the 56 passengers on board reported minor or moderate injuries, Capone said.
An emergency management spokesman told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the bus was carrying Asian tourists. He told the newspaper that hospital officials were trying to contact an interpreter for assistance.
The name of the tour bus operator was not immediately clear.
Since February, a series of major bus crashes have resulted in fatalities across the country. Fifteen people were killed in March when a bus rolled on its side and struck a pole in New York, shearing the top off much of the vehicle. Last month, four people died when a bus crashed after the driver dozed off at the wheel in Virginia and a 6-year-old boy died in a crash in Kentucky.
Capone said Monday’s crash happened around 7:20 a.m. in the eastbound lanes. He said a construction project was being cleared from the left lane when the collision happened in the right lane.
The 34 remaining passengers were taken from the scene and were being picked up by another bus, Capone said.