2 Dead In Penn State Bus Crash
Two people were killed and 106 injured when four charter buses carrying Pennsylvania State University students and three passenger cars collided early Sunday, reports Phil Yacuboski of CBS affiliate WYOU-TV in Scranton.
The four buses that crashed 14 miles southeast of Wilkes-Barre were among six returning from a shopping trip to New York that was organized by the Association of Residence Hall Students at the university's main campus in State College.
About 280 students were on the buses, university spokesman Bill Mahon said. The buses were chartered from the Blue and White Line of Altoona.
"We have two fatalities, one being a bus driver and the other being a student," state police Trooper Shannon Yates said.
The bus driver who died was in the second of the four buses that crashed, and the student who died was sitting in the first row of the third bus, University President Graham B. Spanier said. The 106 injured people were treated at four area hospitals.
"The buses were just a mangled mess," Yacuboski said. "They were all connected together."
"Most of the injuries were minor, although several people were transferred to trauma centers," Spanier said. He said about five people remained hospitalized in serious condition Sunday.
"Virtually every ambulance in the northeastern part of the state was called into service to respond to the crash," he said
The buses hit a "very thick wall of fog" just before crashing, Spanier said.
The heavy fog played a role in the crash, state police Cpl. Chriss Grube, an accident reconstructionist. He said there was no reason to believe any of the bus drivers was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"The weather was terrible," said Kathy Bell, a cashier at the Bandit Truck Stop, which is located a short walk from the accident scene. She was driving home in the fog after her shift ended, which was just before the crash. "It was terribly, terribly foggy, almost like a whiteout. You would hit, like, a white spot where you couldn't see anything.
"Even the truck drivers were coming in saying it was really bad," Bell said. "A lot of them even parked in the back and stayed here last night because they didn't want to drive."
Three of the buses were in a row and crashed into each other end-to-end; another bus crashed into a guard rail at the side of the road. The two other buses that made the trip avoided the crash.
Yacuboski reports the accident occurred underneath an overpass in the heart of the Pocono Mountains, a popular vacation spot in northeastern Pennsylvania, about one o'clock in the morning.
"There were a few Penn State hats, a few Penn State jackets - a lot of debris along the side of the roadway from all of these kids who had gotten off the buses that were coming back from their trip," he said.
"We offer our condolences to the families of the deceased and want to do everything possible to asist the other students who made this trip," Spanier said in a statement posted on the school's Web site
Spanier directed appropriate university staff to offer assistance to students, their roommates and family, as needed. The statement said counselors, medical staff and residence life staff will meet with students as they return to campus.
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