By The newspaper
22 Sep 2023, 09:28 AM EDT
A defective tire may have contributed to the deadly rollover in New York’s Orange County of a bus carrying a school band from Long Island to Pennsylvania yesterday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
There were 40 students and four adults on board. Two women died and dozens of students were injured, five of them in critical condition. The governor said the bus fell down a 50-foot ravine.
The accident occurred at 1:12 pm Thursday on I-84 near the city of Wawayanda, 75 miles north of NYC, when the bus overturned while descending an embankment on the side of the busy highway.
The charter bus was carrying members of Long Island’s Farmingdale High School band headed to Greeley, Pennsylvania, for a music camp. School band director Gina Pellettiere (43) and retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari (77) were identified as the two victims who perished at the scene.
A preliminary investigation indicates that a defective front tire may have contributed to the crash, Hochul said. However, the governor stressed that the accident is still under investigation, he indicated. Pix11.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a team to investigate, said US Senator Chuck Schumer. Hochul said he had also activated the Division of Homeland Security (DHS) to assist local authorities and state police (NYSP) with the investigation.
The NTSB, in coordination with the New York State Police, is sending a team to conduct a safety investigation into Thursday’s rollover crash on Interstate 84 in Wawayanda, New York. Team will arrive on scene Friday morning.
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) September 21, 2023
“Imagine the fear, the screams after these high school students, many of them freshmen, were surrounded by this chaos,” Hochul described. “But they held on, they were strong, and within 45 minutes… these young people and adults were taken to safety.”
The damaged bus was part of a caravan of six that was taking students to a camp. The vehicle is owned by Regency Transportation in Nesconset, Long Island.
According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) website, that company has an impeccable safety record: it has not had any dangerous driving violations in recent years and, in general, its vehicles are very well maintained, he commented. ABCNews.