Five dead, dozens injured as New York bus returning from Niagara Falls overturns

A tour bus carrying more than 50 passengers from Niagara Falls to New York City overturned on the New York State Thruway on Friday afternoon, killing at least five people and injuring several others, according to local media.

The accident happened around 12.22 pm, roughly 48 kilometres east of Buffalo. Trooper James O’Callaghan of the New York State Police confirmed the fatalities, The New York Times reported. The bus was transporting 54 passengers including travellers from India and China.

Authorities have not released the identities of those killed. Police also dismissed early claims that a child was among the dead, clarifying that all victims were adults, The Buffalo News said.

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The crash brought traffic to a standstill as both directions of the busy Thruway were shut down for hours. Westbound lanes reopened shortly after 5 pm, while eastbound lanes remained closed until about 8.30 pm, nearly eight hours after the incident.

Major Andre J Ray said that five people were pronounced dead at the scene while many are still hospitalised. However, there were no other patients in a ”life-threatening status”, he added.

The bus, carrying passengers aged from 1 to 74, was operated by M&Y Tour Inc. out of Staten Island, Ray said.

Investigators have ruled out mechanical failure and impairment or intoxication of the driver as causes of the crash, Buffalo News reported.

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State Police said several witnesses saw the bus lose control, enter the median, cross the southern shoulder and overturn.

Trooper O’Callaghan during a news conference said every passenger on the bus had at least some sort of “cut, bruise or abrasion as an injury”.

Most of the passengers were from India, China and the Philippines, and many were not wearing seatbelts, he added.

Trooper O’Callaghan said that the bus was “extremely damaged” and that many passengers had been ejected from the vehicle when it crashed. The driver was “alive and well,” he added.

He said that the driver had lost control of the bus for “unknown reasons”.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in a statement posted on X, said that she had been “briefed on the tragic tour bus accident” and that her office was “coordinating closely” with the State Police and other agencies that were responding to the crash.

With inputs from agencies