UPDATED: 11:30 a.m., Friday, July 23
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Several people were hurt in a crash involving a SEPTA bus in the Fairhill section of North Philadelphia. At Fifth Street and Allegheny Avenue, debris scattered across the road. And the front end of a Route 47 bus is in a used car lot.
At around 6 a.m. Friday, witnesses say, a pickup truck ran a red light and hit the bus, which then veered off the road, hit a pole and the back of a parked car, then plowed through the metal fence of the used car lot.
Windows on the bus were shattered, and the front end was smashed. The pickup was in terrible shape, with pieces scattered across the street.
"We heard a boom. We heard two booms," said Maria Hernandez, who lives nearby. "We lost electricity, so we didn't think it was a crash."
But it was a bad crash. And Maria's parked car was right in front of the one the bus hit.
"Where the bus went through, that's where I usually park," she said.
So she says she's fortunate and glad no one was killed. Officials initially said seven people were hurt. SEPTA later added that four of those injured were on the bus and that includes the driver. The injuries are described as non-life threatening.
Witnesses say a pickup truck ran a red light and hit this Route 47 bus, which then veered off the road, hit the back of a parked car, and plowed through the metal fence of this used car lot.Tim Jimenez/KYW Newsradio
Sara Hernandez, assistant manager of the lot, says two of the cars are totaled and two others have some damage. And if this had been a different part of the day, she said, the result could have been much worse.
"During the day, the manager stands at that fence to talk on his cell phone and stuff like that," Hernandez said. "So imagine if he were to be standing there and this SEPTA just crashed in. He could have been dead."
SEPTA says riders of Route 47 can expect delays and detours in this area because of cleanup and police investigation.
Debris was scattered across the street Friday morning.Tim Jimenez/KYW Newsradio
