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| 1 dead, 3 dozen injured after 'Megabus' (from Chicago) slams into concrete pillar on I-55; video (264782) | |||
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1 dead, 3 dozen injured after 'Megabus' (from Chicago) slams into concrete pillar on I-55; video |
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Posted by Gold_12TH on Thu Aug 2 20:49:54 2012  video embedded ... Photos link: http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Dou-164778076.html At least one person is dead after a packed double-decker Megabus blew a tire and slammed head-on into a concrete bridge support pillar in Montgomery County, Illinois on Thursday. Passengers said the bus blew out a tire and slammed into a concrete pillar supporting an overpass on southbound Interstate 55 at mile marker 57, located just north of Litchfield. Illinois State Police Trooper Doug Francis said 30 ambulances and five medical helicopters were sent to the scene. One person was confirmed dead, but there was no information on the victim. Officials confirmed 22 patients were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield. Most of them had moderate fractures, according to hospital officials. Sue Campbell with Memorial Hospital in Staunton said they had received six patients, but none of the injuries were considered life-threatening. They were expecting another four people. Eight patients were also transported to Hillsboro Area Hospital. None of those patients were in critical condition, officials said. Authorities said one person was taken by air to Barnes-Jewish hospital in critical condition. Another person was being transported there from St. Francis Hospital in unknown condition. In addition, an seven and eleven-year-old were heading to Barnes-Jewish on Thursday evening after suffering multiple fractures, according to hospital officials. Another patient was airlifted to St. Louis University Hospital, but their condition was unknown. SkyZoom 4 cameras showed numerous emergency vehicles surrounding the bus and rescue crews climbing ladders to reach inside its crumpled front end. Some passengers could be seen being tended to along the side of Interstate 55, which was shut down in both directions for a majority of the day. Both lanes were back open by about 5:30 p.m. Other emergency crews set up a triage in the median of the highway to treat injured passengers. Most of the victims’ conditions were not immediately clear. Megabus spokeswoman Amanda Byers said 81 passengers were booked to ride the discount charter bus, which was on its way to St. Louis from Chicago. It was scheduled to then go to Kansas City. Zaq Hall, who was riding the bus, said everyone was helping each other after the wreck. He said two people were pinned on the top level and the driver was trapped on the bottom. Hall mentioned he had been on a Megabus two days prior that also blew a tire. About 36 passengers from the bus were taken on two school buses from the crash site to the community center in Litchfield, said Janis Johns, transportation director of Litchfield Community Unit School District 12. The school district sent a third school bus to the crash site, but it wasn’t needed, Johns said. The Red Cross will be notified and coolers of water will be provided, she said. “It was very warm out there,” she said, and some crash survivors were overheated. The bus suffered extensive damage to the front. News 4’s Steve Templeton said storms could possibly hinder the efforts of emergency crews if they further developed. A woman was killed and dozens of other people injured when a double-decker Megabus bound from Chicago smashed into a concrete pillar of an overpass on Interstate 55 this afternoon, state police say. The bus, carrying 64 passengers, apparently blew a tire and skidded into the center pillar around 1:20 p.m. near Litchfield, about 60 miles north of St. Louis, police say. As many as half the people on the bus were injured, according to State Police Capt. Scott Compton. Four to five of the injured were trapped and had to be extricated, including the woman who died, he said. Television footage from the scene showed crews on ladders reaching inside the smashed front end of the bus. Thirty ambulances and five medical helicopters responded, and I-55 was shut down in both directions from the Carlinville exit to the Litchfield exit. Compton said he was one of the first on the scene, and many of the passengers were already out of the bus. "Some of them . . . were a little more concerned or acting eratically, but it was relatively calm. "There were all sorts of injuries, extremities, leg injuries, neck injuries," he said. "And there were several cuts to the heads and the legs and things like that." Compton said a hard rain in the drought-ravaged area slowed down reconstruction of the crash briefly but "did not impede" extrications. Megabus passenger Eliana Siegal, of West Rogers Park, said the time from when the bus veered off the road to when it slammed into the concrete pillar felt like about five seconds. “I flew forward and my glasses were smashed into the back of the seat in front of me,” said Siegal, 16. “People were panicking and babies were crying – a woman across the aisle from me was screaming that her leg was broken.” Siegal, who was riding on the top tier of the double-decker bus, said she and other passengers rushed off the bus as quickly as they could out of fear it might explode. But the driver and at least one other passenger were trapped, she said. “There was a lot of manpower spent trying to get the people who were trapped out of the bus,” Siegal said. Siegal was taken to a community center in Litchfield. She said she was traveling alone, on her way to meet friends for a concert in St. Louis. She credits a Jewish blessing her father gave her before the trip for her safety in the crash. On his way to Kansas City to see family, Michael Martin of Minneapolis said he was asleep but woke up on the floor with bloodied people standing all around him and screaming. "All I heard was hollering and screaming, blood,"Martin said. "There was the front window." "I was like, in shock, in a daze," said Martin, 36. "A guy grabbed me ... told me I was in shock, my neck was swollen all up." Riders were from many different places, Martin said. One rider near the front was stuck from waist up and hollering, a child was stuck in a seat but calmer, Martin said. "I just kept hearing people hollering," Martin said. "There was blood everywhere." "Pain and shock," Martin said. "Little kids were screaming and crying." But Martin praised the response from the Litchfield community. "They were here in no time," Martin said. Several drivers on the highway pulled over to help the bus passengers, Martin said. Martin said he went to a hospital in Litchfield, with minor head and neck injuries. "God is good," said Martin. "I'm ain't saying I deserve to be alive (instead of) nobody else." Phillip Keophaphone, 24, of Kansas City was traveling back home with several others he worked with on a series of photo shoots at Navy Pier and beach sites in Chicago over the last week. "Honestly, I was asleep," said Keophaphone, a wardrobe stylist. "I just woke up to screaming." "It was like a movie," he said, describing the scene after the crash. "Just God willing, there was a lot of helpful people." "I'm not injured at all," he said. "So I just started helping as many people as I could." His friends were still in the hospital but with no serious injuries. But thinking about his walking away uninjured? "It's God," he said. "I can't take credit for it. I just have strong faith." He said "a lot of people were thrown out of their seats." Authorities said a 24-year-old man was airlifted to St. Louis University Hospital with multiple fractures, and another person was flown to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Four people were airlifted to Memorial Hospital in Springfield, and another two were taken there by ambulance, according to spokesman Michael Leathers. Their conditions were not known. Sixteen people were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield and as many as four more were on the way, officials said. Most of them had moderate fractures, they said. Three patients were transported to Hillsboro Area Hospital. None of those patients were in critical condition, officials said. Memorial Hospital in Staunton received five patients, all of them with non-life threatening injuries, according to hospital CEO Sue Campbell. “We’re receiving the less severe injuries – bumps, bruises or possible lacerations,” she said. “Our doctors and nurses are receiving and assessing patients currently.” Campbell said the hospital anticipates more patients could arrive. The Litchfield School District sent school buses to transport uninjured people to the community center in the town, about five miles away. About 36 passengers from the bus were taken on two school buses to the community center in Litchfield, said Janis Johns, transportation director of Litchfield Community Unit School District 12. The passengers were either uninjured or mildly injured and included some children, Johns said. One woman was brought on a stretcher in the school bus. The school district sent a third school bus to the crash site but it wasn't needed, Johns said. “We're close to the highway. We try to help out when we can,” Johns said. The Red Cross will be notified and coolers of water will be provided, she said. “It was very warm out there,” she said, and some crash survivors were overheated. The bus was on its way to St. Louis from Chicago, then was scheduled to head to Kansas City. ---http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-megabus-from-chicago-crashes-into-i55-overpass-20120802,0,536199.story |
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