The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team of investigators to look into the fatal bus crash that claimed 14 lives on I-95 in the Bronx over the weekend. The bus, operated by World Wide Tours, was traveling from Mohegan Sun back to Chinatown when it overturned and slid hundreds of feet into a highway sign pole; the pole then sliced the bus in half, killing and maiming passengers. According to the Wall Street Journal, the NTSB said "investigators hoped that a black box that records data about how fast the bus was going and other factors would tell them if the driver was speeding. They also planned to look at footage from a camera pointed at passengers on the bus."
The bus driver, Ophadell Williams, had claimed he swerved to avoid a tractor-trailer, but investigators were suspicious, based on tire marks and accounts from passengers on the bus. One anonymous law enforcement official told the NY Times that passengers said the driver "repeatedly...strayed onto the rumble strips, which alert drivers that they are nearing the edge of the pavement... It was not clear exactly how many times it had happened: 'It varies with different people’s recollections,' the official said."
The Post reports, "Federal records have shown that World Wide buses were inspected 26 times over the last two years, with five violations related to fatigued driving issued in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. There were two crashes with injuries -- on Oct. 24, 2009, in Westchester and last June in Perth Amboy, NJ, with one person injured in each. World Wide had no serious violations over the last 24 months." World Wide says they are cooperating fully.
Survivors of the crash painted an awful scene—people were decapitated and split open, while others were impaled with pieces of metal or glass. A doctor at Jacobi Hospital, which, along with St. Barnabas, treated passengers, said, "We performed abdominal surgeries, chest surgeries. There was every type of blunt force trauma that you can imagine."
Many of the passengers were Chinese immigrants; one woman, Sai Ling, told the NY Times how she lost both her parents:
Her father, Kam Ng, 81, a retired restaurant cook, regularly visited Mohegan Sun, Ms. Ling said. He would often go on his gambling trips with friends; his wife, Yuk Ng, 79, a retired garment factory worker, preferred to stay at their home on Long Island and play mah-jongg.
But in recent weeks, Ms. Ng, who had sunk into a deep sadness after the death of her sister two months ago, had been regularly accompanying her husband on his casino jaunts.
“She was nice to everybody; he was very quiet, very traditional,” Ms. Ling said. “They were so sweet.”
As Ms. Ling spoke, the family’s community rallied around. A steady stream of neighbors and friends arrived with food, and the phone rang frequently.
“She went, played at the casino, and died,” Ms. Ling said. “I think she’s happy. She took him with her; they went together.”
The NTSB is waiting to speak to bus driver Williams when they get the all-clear from his doctors. The Times notes, "Police records show that an Ophadell Williams, now 40, was convicted of manslaughter in 1992 and served two years in prison. The same man later served an additional four years on a larceny conviction."
