Niagara Falls: New York tour bus rolls and crashes, multiple deaths

A tour bus returning to New York City from Niagara Falls with more than 50 passengers has crashed and rolled on an interstate highway, killing and injuring multiple people, police say.

The bus apparently lost control on near Pembroke, about 40km east of Buffalo.

People inside were ejected as the windows shattered.

“At this time we have multiple fatalities, multiple entrapments and multiple injuries,” said Trooper James O’Callahan, a spokesperson for the New York State Police.

Several ambulances and medical helicopters transported patients from the crash.

O’Callahan said most people on the bus were Indian, Chinese and Philippine, and translators were being brought to the scene.

The driver survived.

“The bus was travelling eastbound right before the Pembroke exit and for unknown reasons, the vehicle lost control, went into the median, overcorrected and ended up in the ditch, which would be on the right side of the roadway,” O’Callahan said.

The Mercy Flight air medical transport service said its three helicopters were transporting people from the crash site to hospitals.

Erie County Medical Centre, a Buffalo hospital, said it had at least eight patients.

Three other helicopters from other services were being called to the scene, as well as ambulances from multiple area agencies, Mercy Flight president Margaret Ferrentino said.

“It’s a very active scene,” Ferrentino said.

“At this time, we’re praying for the victims.”

The New York State Thruway Authority said a lengthy stretch of the roadway had been shut down in both directions and drivers were being urged to avoid the area.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on X that she was briefed on the “tragic tour bus accident” and that her office was working with police and local officials.

“There was glass all over the road and people’s stuff all over the road,” Powell Stephens of Medina told The Buffalo News after he drove by the crash.

“Windows were all shattered.”