Crash victim: Bus driver was late, cranky
The scene of a deadly crash on the southbound New England Thruway at the Hutchinson Parkway where a tour bus overturned, leaving 15 people dead and several badly hurt, authorities said. (March 12, 2011) Credit: James Carbone
The bus ride started badly, Siu Yung Ng recalled from Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
The driver arrived late to pick up passengers in Chinatown for an overnight trip to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut Friday night. And he was not apologetic for being a half-hour late, she said in Cantonese, according to her daughter, Anna Ng. There was bad blood on this trip from the beginning, she said.
Siu Yung Ng, 62, had made the trip before, her daughter said. This trip to the Mohegan Sun casino was scheduled to leave Chinatown, where she lives, at 7:30 p.m. Friday and return Saturday morning, just in time for her job as an elder care aide. Siu Yung Ng often works seven days a week, her daughter said, and was scheduled to work Saturday morning.
After a few hours at the casino, the same driver picked them up for the return trip.
Just as they reached the Bronx on Interstate 95, the bus flipped on its side and slid into a sign post that sheared it in half. Siu Yung Ng suffered a broken ankle and neck injuries in the crash that killed 14.
"She's in a lot of pain" and on pain killers. She fades in and out of consciousness, said Anna Ng, 42, who worries about her mother not being able to walk or work. "She liked to keep herself occupied."
Siu Yung Ng and five other survivors of Saturday's casino tour bus crash remained in critical condition at Jacobi Sunday, four of them on life support.
One victim died shortly after arriving at Jacobi, hospital officials said. Eight were treated and released. Another victim, a man about 50 years old, remains unidentified.
"If you know anybody that might be on this bus, please go to the local police department or call 311 and we'll connect you with somebody and you can help," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at Jacobi. "You should not worry about your documentation status or anything. Police don't ask that."
The bus driver and two crash victims remained at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx in serious or stable condition, according to the hospital.
At Jacobi, "all that we could stabilize have been stabilized," trauma surgery director Sheldon Teperman said. "There's a great expectation that those who remain should survive."
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
