One dead, others hurt after Canadian tour bus rollover in New York
Posted July 18, 2014 2:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW YORK (NEWS1130) – A would-be fun-filled weekend in New York City for more than 50 Quebecers turned tragic today when their tour bus rolled over in upstate New York.
A teenage girl was killed and many other passengers suffered broken bones and cuts.
State police in New York have identified the victim as 14-year-old Chelssy Mercier of Trois-Rivieres.
Authorities says Mercier died after being ejected and becoming trapped underneath the bus, which broke through a guard rail, fell on its side and slid down a grassy hill.
State police Major Richard Smith says the Quebec teen was partially ejected from the bus and pinned underneath.
He says she had been travelling with her mother on the bus.
Smith says passersby tried to raise the vehicle using a jack and that a police officer used a defibrillator in an attempt to revive the victim.
The accident occurred on Interstate 87, also known as the Adirondack Northway.
Smith says none of the injuries to the other passengers appear to be life-threatening.
All passengers — between six and 54 years old — were taken to hospital.
There was no apparent sign the 61-year-old driver skidded before the accident.
The cause remains under investigation.
Police said there was no reason to suspect the driver, who passed three different inspections in the past year.
The bus was travelling south from Quebec City when the accident occurred between exits 29 and 30 in North Hudson, about 200 kilometres south of Montreal.
Members of the R-C-M-P and Quebec provincial police were dispatched to provide assistance and help translate for the largely French-speaking group.
Neither tour operator Jaimonvoyage.com nor bus company Autobus Fleur de Lys had information on how the accident occurred.
