Tour bus overturns in N.J. Turnpike crash

Authorities Friday continued their investigation of the cause of an accident in which a tour bus overturned in a crash with a tractor-trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike in Gloucester County, sending nearly three dozen passengers to hospitals with minor injuries.

The crash happened in the southbound lanes about 12:30 a.m. Friday near mile marker 19 in West Deptford, according to New Jersey State Police.

Thirty-two of the 50 passengers on the tour bus, which was traveling to Atlanta, were taken to local hospitals, Trooper Alejandro Goez said. Only minor injuries occurred.

The other 18 riders were taken to the municipal building in Woolwich Township to arrange for further transportation. The coach bus was operated by PandaNY Bus, a New York City-based company. It was registered to Eagle Bus, based in Waltham, Mass., Goez said.

No injuries were reported to the drivers of the tractor-trailer and the bus.

The circumstances of the accident, in which the tractor-trailer jackknifed, remain under investigation.

Shawn Wu, a representative of PandaNY Bus, said Friday afternoon that the bus was rear-ended by the truck.

Wu also said that buses had been dispatched to pick up the passengers from the hospital and other locations, and that they would be taken back to New York or on to their destinations if they chose. All luggage would also be delivered, he said.

The crash comes less than two weeks after a harrowing tour bus crash on Interstate 95 in Maryland. In that incident, a bus carrying eighth-grade students from C.W. Henry School and their chaperones on a class trip to Washington overturned after being struck by a car trying to pass it. That crash left 29 people hurt, some seriously, including a special-education teacher who suffered critical injuries and remains in a medically induced coma.