Crash that killed 5 Amish took hours to untangle

BENTON, N.Y. -- A crash that killed five people in a van carrying Amish farmers in upstate New York took hours to untangle, as rescue crews labored to free people from the wreckage that was stuck under a tractor.

They also struggled to identify victims who typically don't carry identification.

Rescuers relied on a survivor and members of the Amish community to identify the dead and injured in Tuesday's crash.

Six people remain hospitalized Wednesday after the collision between a car passing a slow-moving tractor and a van carrying 14 people touring the rural Finger Lakes farms.

Yates County Sheriff Ronald Spike called it a horrific tragedy.

Steven Eldridge of Penn Yan, the car's driver, was arraigned after the crash on five counts of criminally negligent homicide, driving while intoxicated and other offenses.

Authorities say the 42-year-old passed the slow-moving farm tractor on a curve and sideswiped the van carrying 13 Amish farmers.

Five people in the van were pronounced dead at the scene. Of the nine people taken to area hospitals, six were still hospitalized Wednesday morning in either satisfactory or guarded condition.

Eldridge was held on $250,000 cash bail or $125,000 bond. His next court date is Friday.