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Tour bus crash injures 57 passengers in New York

The accident sent all the passengers to hospitals and caused traffic to back up for eight miles.

Published: August 15, 2021 3:50pm

Updated: August 15, 2021 5:09pm

A New York tour bus heading to Niagara Falls from Poughkeepsie on Saturday swerved off the highway and rolled over, injuring all 57 passengers.

The crash took place around 12:40 p.m. on I-90 in Brutus, New York, after the bus veered off the road for an unknown reason and rolled over, according to New York State Police.

All of the passengers, including the driver, Fermin Vasquez, were transported for their injuries, state police said.

About 27 people, including Vasquez, went to Auburn Community Hospital, said spokesperson Matthew Chadderdon, according to the Associated Press. Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, a top-level trauma center in the area, received 25 patients, spokesperson Darryl Geddes told the AP. State police said several other passengers were also transported to Crouse Hospital.

After the crash, traffic was backed up for eight miles at one point when a highway lane was closed until the early evening, according to state police.

Juan Gil-Urrego said his mother, Ximena Urrego, was on the bus as she organizes affordable trips to Niagara Falls and Washington, D.C., for her community, WSYR-TV reported. He said that she was getting back surgery and got glass shards in her eye from the accident.

Gil-Urrego told WSYR-TV that he heard a few kids were on the bus and the youngest was a month old. Police have not confirmed this, but Gil-Urrego also heard that the bus swerved and a passenger thinks a tire popped.

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