A double-decker bus travelling off its route in New York hit a low railroad bridge and flipped on its side. The Megabus was carrying more than two dozen people when it rammed into the bridge around 2.30am in the morning. The accident happened on the Onondaga Lake Parkway in Salina, a suburb of Syracuse in Central New York.
The accident left four passengers dead and another twenty-four were taken to hospital, some suffering from critical injuries.
Larry Ives, supervisor of dispatch operations for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s department said that the bus was too tall to make it under the low-hanging span. The bridge left the top level of the bus crushed and partially peeled back the front.
The driver of the bus had head injuries but was speaking to investigators. The dead included three men and a woman, Sheriff Kevin Walsh told the newspaper. One of the victims was a 19-year-old male from Kansas, and the female victim was said to be in her teens. Sheriff Walsh said that there was no indication that the driver had been on drugs.
It is currently unknown why the bus drifted off its route, and headed for the low toll bridge. However investigations are under way.