A Chinatown bus headed to Philadelphia crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike last night, killing two people and sending 40 to hospitals — just two days after another Chinatown bus returning from a Connecticut casino flipped in The Bronx, leaving 15 passengers dead.
The latest highway catastrophe occurred after the bus — operated by Super Luxury Tours in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. — entered the grass median and careened into an overpass, cops said. It then slammed into a guard rail and a concrete abutment while heading south in East Brunswick at around 9 p.m., New Jersey State Police said.
Wei Wang, the 50-year-old driver, who lived in Forest Hills, Queens, was hurled through the windshield and died. Passenger Troy Nguyen, 20, of Royserford, Pa., died after being transported to a hospital in New Brunswick.
At least five passengers in critical condition were rushed to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.
“I blacked out,” said Steve Mullahy, 20, who suffered a concussion and cuts and bruises. “But before I did I heard a loud bang or pop.” The Royersford, Pa. man: “woke up on the side of the road. I was bleeding pretty bad, I had a lot of glass in my head,” he said.
Ashley Wilson, 21, from Flushing, who also had cuts along her arms said, “We busted through a metal railing and drove through the opposite lanes into oncoming traffic.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation.