Officials: 13 dead in NYC tour bus accident

[March 12, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Officials say 13 people have died when a tour bus accident flipped onto its side and skidded into a sign post in the Bronx.

A New York Fire Department spokesman said the bus overturned on the New England Thruway near the Westchester County line at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

The World Wide Tour bus skidded on its side into a sign pole on the southbound side of Interstate 95 at Exit 14 for the Hutchinson Parkway. The sign post sheared off the top of the bus along the window line, nearly two-thirds the length of the vehicle.

The spokesman says the bus was carrying 31 to 33 passengers. He says in addition to the fatalities, six passengers were critically injured and four have been transported to hospitals.

The spokesman says 11 others sustained minor injuries.

[Associated Press]

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