Police to examine wreck in NJ Turnpike bus crash

[March 15, 2011]  EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) -- Police said they will examine the wreckage of a luxury tour bus on Tuesday to help determine what caused it to crash as it traveled from New York City's Chinatown to Philadelphia, killing the driver and a passenger.

Driver Wei Wang, a 50-year-old Taiwanese national who lived in Forest Hills, N.Y., was thrown through the windshield in Monday night's accident, and several passengers were badly injured in the New Jersey Turnpike crash, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said.

Passenger Troy Nguyen, 20, of Royserford, Pa., died after being transported to a hospital in New Brunswick. About 40 passengers were sent to area hospitals, and two were in critical condition, Jones said. Police believe there were 44 or 45 people on the bus, which was a private charter, Jones said.

The one-vehicle crash on one of the nation's most heavily trafficked highways happened just days after a bus from a Connecticut casino crashed as it was returning to New York City's Chinatown neighborhood, killing 15 people.

The bus in Monday's crash, operated by a Pennsylvania company, is believed to have entered the grass along the center median before striking an overpass support and hitting an embankment along the right side of the road, Jones said. It was traveling south on the turnpike when the crash occurred around 9 p.m. Monday just south of Exit 9 in East Brunswick, about 40 miles southwest of Manhattan, but it didn't flip onto its side as initially believed, police said.

The cause of the crash hadn't been determined.

The white tour bus came to a stop at an angle with its damaged front section pointed off the highway and onto the grassy median.

The bus was moved to an impound lot where state police said it would be mechanically inspected Tuesday and all available data would be taken from its electronic components.

The bus was operated by Super Luxury Tours Inc., of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., New Jersey state police said. No website or telephone listing for the company could be found.

The driver was from the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, one of New York City's five boroughs.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.