At least three people have been killed after a charter bus crashed with a passenger vehicle in Pennsylvania Sunday night, officials have stated.
Just before midnight, a charter bus traveling south on Interstate 81 and carrying approximately 45-50 passengers hit an embankment before colliding with a passenger vehicle in Lower Paxton Township, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
BREAKING OVERNIGHT: Multiple people are dead after a charter bus crashed just outside of Harrisburg, Pa. overnight Sunday. https://t.co/od46mp7J5o
— CBS Philadelphia (@CBSPhiladelphia) August 7, 2023
The collision forced the bus to flip onto its side, injuring multiple passengers and resulting in the death of at least three on the scene, state police officials revealed to the outlet. Injuries sustained by surviving passengers ranged from minor to critical and many of the wounded were transported to nearby Penn State Hershey Medical Center, according to PennLive.
“This is considered a mass casualty incident,” Trooper Megan Frazer stated, according to the AP. “We do have eight ambulances that assisted with us, as well as lifeline (emergency response), just because of how many people were involved and the amount of injuries,” Frazer continued. (RELATED: Greyhound Bus Crash Kills 3, Injures More Than A Dozen)
The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania was on hand to assist passengers who were being discharged from the hospital. The Red Cross provided food, drinks and cots at the Chambers Hill Fire Department, though they could not comment on the number of people they were assisting, telling the AP “the situation is still evolving.”
Though officials have not commented on the cause of the crash, the area was experiencing a heavy downpour at the time of the collision, CBS News reported.