Several injured in NJ Transit bus crash

(New Jersey - WABC, March 30, 2007) (WABC) -- Officials say dozens of people were injured, 7 hospitalized, after a NJ Transit bus crashed into a divider near the Lincoln Tunnel on Friday night, causing major traffic delays.

It happened at the Park Avenue exit off the Lincoln Tunnel Helix in Weehawken.

We have two reporters on this story. We begin with NJ Burkett with the latest.

The bus was packed with people and slammed headlong into a cement divider. The force drove the bus up and over the divider. Several people were seriously injured, some of them badly hurt.

Passengers had no idea what had happened until they had been pulled from the bus by rescue teams who careened through rush hour traffic to reach them. Authorities say at least a half a dozen people were thrown from their seats and seriously injured.

"All of a sudden we were just on top of the divider. Nobody seems to know what happened. Everybody was jolted forward ... a lot of people sustained injuries to their face ... my friend got cut, she needed stitches ... a girl in front of us hit her face and a woman that was standing fell to the floor," a passenger on board told us.

It happened at 7:30 Friday night. The bus was operated by New Jersey Transit and packed with rush hour commuters heading home for the weekend from Midtown Manhattan. The bus had just exited the Lincoln Tunnel and began climbing the Helix when the driver suddenly slammed into a cement divider.

It was not immediately clear why and police accident investigators remained on the scene for the rest of the evening.

The bus was en route to Paterson and originated at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where hundreds of people were stranded on Friday night after the accident forced the closure of the tunnel's outbound lane.

"I've been here since six o'clock ... stood in line and waited in line until after seven o'clock ... then had to wait until ten fifteen for the next one so it's been over four and a half hours," one commuter told us.

"It's ridiculous. They should have another alternative," another commuter said.

Late Friday night, the outbound Helix was still closed -- and it is still not clear when it will reopen.

We continue our coverage with Eyewitness News reporter Toni Yates who has a look on the conditions of the passengers at Jersey City Medical Center.

Relatives of some of the people who were on the bus are showing up and trying to find out how their loved ones are doing. None of the people here from the bus suffered any life threatening injuries, though many needed some medical attention.

Emergency medical technicians jumped into action at the scene treating the walking wounded and tending to others with more prominent injuries. Most of the people on the bus were expected to be looked at and sent home tonight. But some were brought into Jersey City Medical Center emergency room.

About 30 people were injured we're told. At least two people may have been taken to Palisades Medical Center and two people taken to Hoboken Medical Center.

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