Driver killed, passengers hurt in turnpike crash
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DONEGAL, Pa. -- The driver of a chartered bus carrying 55 people was killed and many of those passengers were injured this morning when the bus slammed into the back of a truck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, shutting down the eastbound lanes between New Stanton and Breezewood for hours.
The crash was reported at 7:20 a.m. at mile marker 95.5, about 4 miles east of the Donegal exit, a Westmoreland County dispatch supervisor said. The eastbound lanes were not opened until 12:30 p.m.
The Westmoreland County coroner's office identified the driver as Bo Hua Tan, 39, of New York City.
State police said 23 people on the bus were injured. One was flown by medical helicopter to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown.
The others, whose injuries were not believed to be life threatening, were being treated at Somerset Hospital and at Excela Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant.
Greg Chiappeli, a spokesman for Somerset Hospital, said seven people were treated there for minor injuries and were released.
State Trooper Robert F. Truszka said investigators were having trouble determining what happened because the bus passengers do not speak English. The uninjured passengers were being transported to the Somerset service plaza, where state police were bringing a translator to help in the investigation because most of the passenges speak only Chinese.
Trooper Truszka said the accident occurred on a slight uphill grade as both vehicles traveled in the right-hand lane.
The bus crashed into the back of the flatbed trailer the truck was pulling, pushing the truck halfway onto the highway berm.
A skid mark at least 100 feet long was visible in the climbing lane.
The driver of the truck, 23-year-old Justin Abraham of Port Hope, Mich., suffered moderate injuries and was being treated at Excela Frick, state police said.
The crash mangled the front of the bus so badly that its door was inoperable, and rescuers had to cut out a window behind the driver to get him out.
Bill Capone, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike, said the bus was traveling from Kentucky to New Jersey.
The bus is operated by Mr. Ho Charter Service, a company out of Bethlehem, Pa., run by Edward Ho.
Contacted at his office, Mr. Ho said the bus had been chartered June 1, and he just provided two drivers, one who has two years of experience with the company and the other who was just hired earlier this month.
He said one of the drivers informed him of the accident this morning and told him that many passengers had been injured and that the other driver was complaining that he could not move before he died.
State police later contacted him to send another bus, which was en route this afternoon from New York.
Mr. Ho said he's run the bus company for about three years and has never had an accident with any of his five buses. Records with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Agency confirm that the company had been accident-free for at least the past two years.
First Published June 27, 2011 8:54 am
