NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Authorities have released the name of a passenger killed when two commuter buses slammed into each other in downtown Newark, a crash that also killed a driver and injured 17 people.
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Jesy Garcia of Newark (center) was killed in the NJ Transit bus collision in Newark on Friday, her family says.
Irma Garcia learned of her mother’s death late Friday night from investigators who traveled to her home in Elizabeth to break the news.
Family friend Jasmina Bosnjakovic said Garcia’s family is “devastated” at losing a hardworking woman who was devoted to her grandchildren.
“She was absolutely insane about her grandkids”, Bosnjakovic said.
Garcia’s bus driver and 16 other passengers were taken to area hospitals and were recovering. The driver of a No. 59 bus from Dunellen to Newark broadsided a No. 13 bus from Irvington to Clifton.
The second fatality was a female bus passenger, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Many passengers were entangled in twisted metal seats covered in shards of glass as the force of the crash tipped the occupied bus at a 30-degree angle as it came to rest on a median. He had worked for NJ Transit for 27 years, the agency said. The Route 59 bus was empty, except for Barthelus. The driver, 35-year veteran driver James Roberts, survived the crash.
NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said earlier seven people were in critical condition.
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Nine of the injured passengers remained hospitalized on Saturday. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
