Call to cell confirms a bus crash death

The cell phone rang and a stranger answered.

"There's been an accident," the voice said.

That's how a friend of Dennis Yeh confirmed that Yeh's older brother had been killed in a tour bus crash in the Bronx. Early yesterday, the mutual friend had called Michael Yeh after hearing about the accident on the radio.

Dennis Yeh was devastated when the friend gave him the news. He knew his 66-year-old brother was on his way home to Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood after an outing at a tribal casino.

Last night, Dennis Yeh, 62, of Queens Village, emerged grim-faced from the medical examiner's office.

He said his brother had lived in New York for about 30 years and had recently retired from the Gristedes grocery chain.

He last saw Michael at their sister's home for a Chinese New Year celebration in February, he said.

It was a day of heartache and suffering. The sun set with families struggling to cope with their losses and a number of crash victims clinging to life.

Some victims came into the emergency room at "death's door," said Dr. Ernest Patti, director of medical media affairs at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.

Patti said doctors there saw plenty of trauma: spinal, lung and pelvic, rib and skull fractures, and numerous internal injuries.

"We've also had a number of really bad lacerations," Patti said.

At Jacobi Medical Center, which treated 15 of the crash victims, spokeswoman Barbara DeIorio said hospital social workers were on hand to help families with inquiries about loved ones.

All day, relatives streamed into the hospitals to get the latest updates, some getting no answers at all.

Three Asian police officers were brought in to serve as impromptu translators at Jacobi. Police vans shuttling family members came and left. Consular officials with diplomatic license plates made hospital trips.

Some who came said they hadn't been able to see the patients because doctors were still doing tests.

Officials ranging from City Councilman Jimmy Vacca of the Bronx to China's consul general in New York, Peng Keyu, visited the injured.

"We really feel sad, whether they are Chinese, Chinese-American or American," Peng said. "I pay my sympathies to all the families."

With Yamiche Alcindor, Emily C. Dooley, Kathleen Kerr, John Riley and Nicholas Spangler