The investigation continues into Friday’s deadly tour bus crash on the New York State Thruway outside Pembroke in Genesee County. There were 54 people on board at the time of the crash.
Five people were killed, and the victims were identified by authorities as Shankar Kumar Jha, 65, of Madhu Bani, India; Pinki Changrani, 60, of East Brunswick, New Jersey; Xie Hongzhuo, 22, of Beijing, China; Zhang Xiaolan, 55; and Jian Mingli, 56, both from Jersey City, New Jersey. Dozens more were injured.
According to New York State Police, the bus involved in the crash was towed to the state police headquarters in Batavia Friday night.
The cause of the collision was still under investigation as of Saturday afternoon. However, the driver –– Bin Shao, 55 of Flushing, New York –– had no signs of impairment, and the tour bus had no mechanical failure. Police said the bus drove into a median before overcorrecting, rolling over and crashing into a ditch.
State Police Maj. Andre Ray said Friday evening that the driver had been distracted, but didn’t elaborate.
Police said the bus was heading to New York City after a trip to the American side of Niagara Falls.
“It’s a full-size tour bus. Heavy amount of damage. It did roll. Most people, I’m assuming, on the bus did not have a seatbelt on. That is the reason we had so many ejected people on this bus. Like I said, this bus is extremely damaged,” said Trooper James O’Callaghan, a New York State Police Troop A public information officer. “This bus was going full speed. It did not hit any other vehicle. It basically lost control from the median on.”
A total of 21 patients were transported to ECMC hospital after the crash. As of noon on Sunday, 11 patients remained at ECMC in stable condition. Three patients were scheduled for discharge over the weekend.
In a statement, Kaleida Health said that they received a total of 20 patients to Buffalo General Medical Center (four adults: all were in good condition with one since discharged), Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (11 adults, two children: 10 in good condition and three in fair condition) and Oishei Children’s Hospital (three children total: two in good condition and one in serious condition).
The University of Rochester Medical Center said that six patients were at their facility. URMC announced Sunday that one patient was discharged. On Saturday, one remains in critical condition and the other four are stable. Three people were transported via air ambulance and another three by ground ambulance. Two were being treated for critical injuries and four were medically stable, including one pediatric patient.
An investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board, in coordination with New York State Police and the state Department of Transportation Motor Carrier Compliance Bureau, was ongoing. Officials from the NTSB, during a press conference Saturday, said that their investigation will involve looking into bus driver fatigue, any and all possible distractions and driver qualifications, as well as other issues such as highway design, safety factors and policies and bus mechanics.
NTSB officials say they will be on scene for approximately four-to-six days and that a preliminary report is expected to be issued in 30 days and a final report will come in 12-24 months. Officials clarified that they will not be determining the probable cause of the crash while on scene, nor will they speculate.
“Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened,” Thomas Chapman, from the National Transportation Safety Board, said. “And to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again.”
Those who may have witnessed the crash or have dash cam footage were asked to contact New York State Police at SP Batavia at (585) 344-6200. You can also email the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
