NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP) — A crash involving a double-decker tour bus and a city bus in Manhattan Thursday evening injured dozens of people, fire and transit officials said.
Reports of a major vehicle crash came in just after 7 p.m. at E. 23rd Street and First Avenue in Gramercy, according to Deputy Chief Kevin Murphy with the FDNY's Division 1 Unit.
Emergency personnel found what he described as a serious accident, with the larger bus adding complications.
“We’ve had a few minor challenges in the double decker bus — going through the windows, taking people out,” New York EMS Division 1 Deputy Chief Paul Hopper said.
Ladders and ropes were required to get some people down because of crash damage to the bus, Murphy said.
The number of injured fluctuated, but transit and fire officials said 67 patients were evaluated and 27 were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Many of those injured have cuts, bruises, scrapes, along with suspected fractures and head and neck injuries, Hopper said.
“None have any life-threatening injury,” said Hopper, who added that dozens of people requested evaluations by a doctor at the scene.
Hopper and Murphy said they couldn’t speculate about what led up to the crash.
NYC Transit President Richard Davey said the MTA bus driver had the right of way when the Topview tour bus blew a red light.
"He was proceeding down 23rd here to get on the FDR [...] with a green light. And at that point the tour bus coming up First Avenue t-boned the bus," Davey said. "As I understand it, it was going so fast it actually hit it twice. It bounced back and then bounced back in again."
“I heard the lady next to me scream, so I looked up and I saw this bus barreling towards us,” Ishrak Jahan, a passenger on one bus, told CBS New York. “I just saw glass everywhere for a second. It was honestly like I was in a movie ... I saw blood. I immediately called 911.”
The driver of the tour bus will receive a summons, sources told WABC.
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