11 hospitalized after 3-car crash in Oyster Bay, fire chief says

Eleven people, including eight children, were taken to hospitals after a three-vehicle crash Friday night in Oyster Bay, a fire official said.

Oyster Bay Fire Chief Frank Mantegari said the injuries were minor, but he nonetheless declared it a mass casualty incident, which allowed him to quickly pull emergency resources.

The three vehicles crashed just before 11 p.m. on Bungtown Road near Route 25A, just west of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the chief said. Firefighters were there within minutes, he said.

“It looks like somebody came around the corner — it’s a pretty bad bend in the road there — and one of them might have veered off the double yellow line,” Mantegari said.

A mother and her three children, ages 3, 5 and 7, were in one vehicle, he said.

“They were perfectly fine,” the chief said. “They went to Huntington Hospital just as a precaution. Most of the other injuries were walking wounded.”

Several of the injured were high school-age students, who were taken to various hospitals because they were minors, he said.

“There’s no guardian there to refuse medical attention, so they had to be transported,” he said.

Eight fire departments sent about 50 first responders and ambulances, authorities said.

Mantegari said he did not have details on what happened in the crash but said police were on the scene investigating.

Nassau County police said they did not have any information about the crash.