A New York City MTA bus and a Dahlia coach bus collided early Monday morning, killing at least three people and injuring more than a dozen others, officials said.
The buses crashed into each other at the intersection of Main Street and Northern Boulevard in Flushing about 6:15 a.m.
At least 16 people were injured in the crash and seven people were in critical condition.
One person was found dead at the scene and two others died in hospitals, authorities said. One of the dead was a pedestrian, one was the coach bus driver and the third was a passenger on one of the buses, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference.
The names of those killed were not immediately released.
De Blasio said authorities were reviewing video evidence to determine how the crash occurred.
The MTA bus was turning when the coach bus struck it, de Blasio said. The MTA bus driver had been on the job for 10 years and was in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
“We had a really tragic morning here in flushing, queens. Just shocking to see the scene there..the sheer destruction from the impact of this collision,” de Blasio said.
The crash also ignited a small fire in the building near where the bus crashed, but the blaze was quickly put out. The NYPD urged people to avoid the area after the “very serious collision” that caused “heavy traffic delays.”
Firefighters and police officers were seen in photos and videos posted to social media helping passengers out of the vehicles. It’s unclear how many people were on each of the buses.
New York City’s Office of Emergency Management tweeted to “expect extensive traffic delays and a heavy presence of emergency personnel.”
Dahlia is a travel and tour bus company based in Flushing.
