MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK (AP) – A charter bus carrying high school students to a band camp veered off a New York highway and tumbled down an embankment on Thursday, killing two adults and seriously injuring several others, officials said.
The bus was one of six in a caravan taking the marching band, colour guard and dancers from Farmingdale High School on Long Island on an annual trip to a camp in Greeley, in north-eastern Pennsylvania.
It was only about 30 minutes from its destination when the wreck happened a little after 1pm on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda, about 72 kilometres northwest of New York City.
A tyre failure may have been to blame for the bus going off the road, Governor Kathy Hochul said.
The two adults who died were the high school’s band director, Gina Pellettiere, 43, of Massapequa, and a retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, of Farmingdale.
Five of the 44 passengers on board were hospitalised in critical condition, according to state police.
News helicopter footage showed tyre tracks on the roadway and a path of ripped-up grass and shrubs on the embankment. Hochul said the bus tumbled 50 feet down the steep slope in a wide median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway. The bus came to rest on its left side, its roof warped. A ladder allowed rescuers to reach the windows.
A September trip to band camp is an annual tradition at the suburban high school, which has around 1,700 students. Members of the band, colour guard and the school’s kick line team attend, as well as adult chaperones. During some years, more than 300 students have gone on the trip to rehearse and have fun in rural Pennsylvania.
The bus crashed about 48 kilometres away from the Pine Forest Camp, where the students were headed.
Many of the 40 students on the bus were freshmen, Hochul said. “They endured. They were strong,” she said.
Students on the other buses returned to Long Island hours after the crash. Six area hospitals treated the injured.
