Officials say the driver killed when two commuter buses in New Jersey collided was a long-time employee.
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The crash caused delays and detours around downtown Newark – New Jersey’s largest city, located about 10 miles west of New York City – with about 20 bus routes affected.
About 20 passengers were aboard the bus that was T-boned, and all but one were injured – seven seriously.
The number of injured and the extent of their injuries is not known. The other bus, driven by Joseph Bathelus, carried no passengers.
The second victim was identified only as a female passenger on the northbound bus.
Both buses had the New Jersey Transit logo on them. The other driver, 35-year veteran James Roberts, had neck, back and shoulder injuries. The speeding bus was empty, police said. He was scheduled to drive the No. 59 route from Newark to Westfield, officials said.
WPIX-TV reported the crash occurred in Newark at around 6:15 a.m. Emergency personnel told the station that at least one driver had died.
Video from news helicopters shows the two tangled vehicles came to rest on a median. Firefighters pulled passengers through a side window and loaded them onto waiting stretchers and into ambulances.
By Friday evening one person remained in critical condition, and five others were in serious condition, authorities said. She said she heard a crash “like an explosion” and ran outside.
Petrain says she saw people with head and leg injuries. The intersection of Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard eventually reopened in the late afternoon.
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The Newark intersection where two buses crashed early Friday, injuring 19 people and killing one of the drivers, was the first in the state to feature a surveillance camera created to catch people running red lights.
