US: More than 75 people injured after two buses collide in New York

New York [US], July 7 : As many as 77 people were injured after a collision between a double-decker tour bus and a city bus on a New York City Street on Thursday evening (local time).

Twenty-seven people were taken to the hospital while 50 others were treated at the spot, New York Post reported citing authorities.

The sight-seeing tour bus crashed into the back of an MTA express bus on East 23rd Street and First Avenue in Manhattan at about 7:15 pm (local time) on Thursday, New York Post reported citing New York Fire Department officials. According to MTA official, the sight-seeing tour bus blew a red light and crashed into the X27 bus which was carrying about 20 New Yorkers onboard.

According to the authorities, none of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries. Both buses were packed at the time of the incident, resulting in a high number of passengers being examined, the report said.

New York Fire Department Deputy Chief Kevin Murphy said, "Anytime you have two buses involved, you have a significant number of patients that likely need to be treated so seeing that quantity of people right away, I think the units did a very good job of getting them off the bus quickly and taking them to the appropriate resources."

Murphy said that the bus which had two level complicated the rescue efforts as firefighters had to break open windows and use ladders and ropes to bring passengers down from the top level of the double-decker bus.

Vctims in the accident suffered minor cuts, bruises, and scrapes. According to Emergency Medical Services Deputy Chief Paul Hopper, some of the people suffered fractures and head and neck injuries. Hopper said, "We're all quite fortunate it was not much worse," according to New York Post.

New York City Transit President Richard Davey said that the driver of the sight-seeing bus reportedly sped through a red light before the collision. Davey said that the MTA bus operator was driving the Bay-Ridge-bound bus is okay.

Davey said, "There were 20 New Yorkers on the X27 just trying to get home this evening plus our bus operator when this tour bus behind us seemed to have blown a red light and T-boned our bus," the report said. He expressed happiness that a good operator did not suffer life-threatening injuries.