Five dead and 60 injured in Pennsylvania Turnpike multi-vehicle crash, officials say

The bus, which was headed to Cincinnati on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, hit the embankment on a downhill curve in Mount Pleasant Township, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State Police said.

The bus owner said it had left from Canal Street in New York City, though authorities said it had started its trip in Rockaway, New Jersey.

Two tractor-trailers hit the bus, and another tractor-trailer then crashed into the first two, Trooper Stephen Limani said at a news conference Sunday afternoon.

“It was a kind of chain-reaction-type crash,” Limani said. “The vehicles are so entangled, and it is such a mess.”

It was not immediately clear what caused the bus to hit the embankment.

It was not immediately clear what caused the bus to hit the embankment. (KDKA TV via AP)

The names of those killed were not immediately released. Limani said that of those injured, two were in critical condition. He said most injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

Aerial footage showed the tour bus flipped onto its side and the tractor-trailers jammed next to it near the edge of a roadway amid pieces of debris. The back of one tractor-trailer, labeled FedEx, was ripped open, with cardboard boxes spilling onto the road.

The tour bus belonged to a company called Z&D Tour, Limani said.

Reached by phone, Chen Dan Yu, who stated he was the owner of Z&D, said the bus had been carrying 56 passengers — one passenger short of a full bus — and was headed from New York City to multiple destinations in Ohio.

Ohio Coach manages ticket sales for the route. Chen said Z&D had contracted for more than three years with the company, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

Chen said his bus company drives that route every day. Federal records show that Z&D has eight vehicles and 15 drivers and is based in Rockaway, New Jersey. Chen said he referred federal authorities to the Chinatown ticket office to confirm victims with a passenger manifest.

The area around Allen and Canal streets in New York City, where Chen said the bus departed from, is an established hub for Chinatown buses, as they have come to be known.

Ticket companies offer small waiting rooms and staff to bring passengers to nearby bus stops. Passengers are usually a mix of restaurant workers and other budget travelers, which at this time of year may include students. Limani said the passengers came from different countries, and some spoke Japanese or Spanish.

While most private bus companies abide by federal and state rules, some have repeatedly violated the law but continued to operate. A number of deadly crashes have prompted calls for greater scrutiny of the industry.

In the past two years, no crashes involving Z&D buses were reported to federal regulators, according to federal records.

As of Sunday morning, Chen said he had been unable to reach the bus driver. He said the weather was to blame for the crash. “It suddenly started to snow,” he said.

Limani said that drivers had said “that the weather did start to change.”

“There was some precipitation that was coming down,” he said. “I’m sure that could have played a factor, but we’re so early in our investigation.”

Craig Shuey, chief operating officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, said at the news conference that crews had been treating the roadway since 9 p.m. Saturday “in a cycle that probably put them through there every hour at least.”

“So they were cycling through, dropping salt and cinder as necessary,” he said.

Eighteen people, including 12 adults and six children and teenagers, were taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Somerset, said Gloria Kreps, a hospital spokeswoman. They were treated and later released.

Thirty-one patients, ages 7-52, were transported to Excela Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, said Tom Chakurda, a spokesman for Excela Health. Twenty-seven were treated and released.

Four patients were taken to trauma centers at UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Chakurda said.

Eleven patients, ages 15-67, were also taken to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, where two of them were in critical condition and the others were in fair condition, said Stephanie Waite, a hospital spokeswoman.

FedEx said in a statement: “We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the individuals involved in this accident. There is no higher priority for FedEx Ground than safety, and we are cooperating fully with investigating authorities at this time.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, it said on Twitter.