WATERLOO, N.Y. – A bus carrying dozens of Ontario tourists burst into flames on a central New York highway early Friday after being struck by a tractor-trailer in a collision that killed the U.S. truck driver and injured dozens of Canadians.
More than 30 passengers on the bus carrying employees of the insurance firm London Life and their families on a shopping trip from the southern Ontario city of Hamilton to New York City were injured, two of them critically.
The impact of the crash was so great, passengers were propelled from their seats and scrambled to escape the burning bus, abandoning their luggage and, in some cases, their shoes, relatives said.
The tourists ranged in age from 15 to 72, police said.
The Canadian driver of the bus is accused of driving with a suspended licence in the U.S.
New York State police said Rene Bisson, 60, of Welland, Ont., will be charged with aggravated, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Bisson is banned from driving in the state because he was ticketed twice for speeding in a 36-month period between 2003 and 2006, said Maj. Mark Koss.
"His licence in Canada was good," Koss said. "But his privilege to operate a commercial motor vehicle, which is a bus, in New York state was suspended."
Farr’s Coachlines Ltd. of Dunnville, Ont., near Hamilton, which owned the bus, could not immediately be reached to comment on the allegations against the driver.
All 52 passengers of the bus and the driver made it out alive, said Trooper Mark O’Donnell, but there were mass casualties.
The bus was on the first of a three-day sight-seeing tour when it caught fire after the 1:30 a.m. ET crash near Junius, southeast of Rochester.
Police say it had pulled over for about 30 minutes because an emissions malfunction light had appeared and the driver had to wait for it to turn off before proceeding. Two troopers had stopped at the scene, but left after hearing from the driver.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Jeff Shaughnessy said his mother- and father-in-law, a "mild-mannered" couple from London, Ont., ran out of the bus and into the night barefoot and without their glasses.
His father-in-law, Mark Conley, was thrown from his seat and separated from his wife Norma, Shaughnessy said.
The couple eventually found each other and ran further from the bus as the flames set off small explosions on board, Shaughnessy said.
His wife, Lisa Shaughnessy, said her parents are "very shaken up" but otherwise OK. Her mother was treated for whiplash and her dad for a leg injury, she said.
London Life, based in the southwestern Ontario city of London, said it sent a team to Rochester to help passengers deal with the crash.
"The well-being of our staff, their families and friends is our primary focus," the company said in a statement.
Lisa Shaughnessy said her parents and other passengers could be home by Friday night.
"I guess it would just depend on people’s injuries, whether they’re coming home today or not," she said.
"But as far as I know, that’s what my parents are expecting, is to be brought home today on a bus organized through London Life to pick up people at different hospitals."
Daniel Farr, one of the bus company’s owners, said staff are on scene.
"They’re in discussions, being interviewed and talking to police," he said from Dunville.
Some of the passengers’ relatives have been calling the company concerned, he said.
"We’ve been directing them as best we can," Farr said.
Video taken after the collision shows the charred, skeletal remains of the bus, which had been painted white with what appears to be a red horse logo. Bare wheel hubs gleamed in the early light, the rubber tires burned off.
The demolished truck was barely recognizable as a vehicle. Rig driver Timothy Hume, 59, of Dryden, Mich., died at the scene, O’Donnell said.
Police said 46 of the bus passengers were taken to seven hospitals, and 30 were treated for injuries.
Two who were seriously hurt were airlifted to a hospital in Rochester.
State police also said a U.S. soldier from New York’s Fort Drum who came upon the scene plucked some people from the burning bus to safety.
A second bus carrying more London Life employees and their families was not involved in the collision, the insurance company said.
The crash follows one on Sunday that killed two people and injured 35 others about 70 kilometres west of Friday’s collision scene. In that tour bus accident, police said it appears a tire blowout caused the bus to veer off the road and flip over.
On Tuesday, a car sideswiped a van full of Amish farmers only about 48 kilometres away, pushing the van under a tractor and killing five of the farmers.
So far this year, 32 people have been killed and 323 injured in 17 tour bus accidents in the U.S., according to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. That’s more than in all of 2010, when there were 30 killed and 272 injured in 28 crashes.
Tour bus industry safety has drawn heightened attention since the March 12 crash of a bus returning to New York City’s Chinatown after an overnight excursion to a Connecticut casino. Fifteen people were killed when the bus flipped onto its side and struck a pole, peeling off its roof.
With files from The Associated Press
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