Dozens injured in car crash in Manhattan

The scene of a bus crash between a tourist double-decker bus and a city bus in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Credit: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS

Dozens of people were injured when a double-decker tour bus crashed into a public bus during a «harrowing» scene in New York on Thursday night.

Eyewitnesses claimed that the passengers screamed when the door opened. The main bus operated by Topview NYC ran a red light and «hit» a bus near Gramercy Park in Manhattan around 7:00 pm.

The buses were reported to be overcrowded at the time of the accident. A total of 31 people were taken to hospital and dozens of others were treated at the scene, according to fire department spokesman Paul Hopper.

None of the injuries were life-threatening.

Broken bus windshield at the site of a collision between a tourist double-decker bus and a public bus in Manhattan. Photo: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS. Richard Davey, President of New York City Transit.

“Tonight, 20 New Yorkers were riding [the public bus] X27 just trying to get home…when that tour bus behind us seemed to explode. ran a red light and crashed into our bus… As far as I understand, he was driving so fast that he actually hit twice,” he said.

“A good [bus driver] got hit, but thank God, no life-threatening injuries,” he said. «But [it] was certainly an agonizing moment for him, and to be honest, for the other 26 or so passengers on the big bus following us.»

Significant damage to both vehicles

Images taken on location accidents showed significant damage to both vehicles, with the windshield of the tour bus completely destroyed.

Many passengers were left with «cuts, bruises, scratches, some suspected fractures, and some head and neck injuries» Hopper said.

Persons had to use ladders and break windows to reach some of the injured, lowering them to the ground with ropes.

Passenger Ishrak Jahan told CBS News

“I heard the woman next to me screaming, so I looked up and saw this bus rushing towards us. ”, he said.

“I just saw glass everywhere for a second. To be honest, I was like in a movie, I saw blood.”