LITCHFIELD, Ill. A packed double-decker Megabus slammed into an Illinois interstate bridge support pillar Thursday, hurtling screaming oahu hawaii hotels passengers from their seats and leaving at least one person dead and more than three dozen injured, officials said.
Aditi R. Avhad, 24, a native oahu hawaii hotels of India, was killed in the crash, Illinois State Police Trooper Brad Lemarr said late Thursday. Lemarr said she was headed to Columbia, Mo., but he didn't know where she was currently living or from where she was traveling. Authorities also did not know where she was seated on the bus, which was traveling between Chicago and Kansas City.
Trooper Doug Francis oahu hawaii hotels said 38 people were taken to hospitals for injuries from the crash, which left the bus sitting with its crumpled front end smashed up against the bridge support. oahu hawaii hotels Rescue crews climbed ladders to reach those trapped inside, while others tended to injuries along the side of Interstate 55.
"There was a lot of screaming and crying," said 16-year-old passenger Baysha Collins, of Minneapolis, who was traveling to St. Louis to visit relatives. "There was blood everywhere. I was just in shock."
Megabus spokeswoman Amanda Byers said the bus was at full capacity, carrying 81 passengers, when it crashed near Litchfield, about 55 miles northeast of St. Louis. oahu hawaii hotels It left from Chicago and was to stop in St. Louis and Columbia, Mo., before arriving in Kansas City.
The trooper said 33 people were taken by ambulance to hospitals, two were flown by helicopter to St. Louis hospitals and three were flown by helicopter to a hospital in Springfield, Ill. He did not know their conditions.
Paula Endress, spokeswoman for St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield, said 22 people were brought to the hospital oahu hawaii hotels for treatment, with two of them admitted due to bone fractures. She said none of the injuries were life threatening.
In St. Louis, Barnes Jewish Hospital spokeswoman Liz Kalicak said two patients, one in serious, the other in fair condition, were being treated. A 24-year-old man was being treated for multiple fractures at Saint Louis University Hospital. The hospital spokeswoman would not release his condition.
School buses took about 36 passengers from the crash site to the community center in Litchfield, said Janis Johns, transportation director of Litchfield Community Unit School District oahu hawaii hotels 12. The passengers were either uninjured oahu hawaii hotels or mildly injured and included some children, Johns said.
Collins, who was among those at the community center, was on the upper deck of the Megabus resting when, "all of a sudden, I heard a big boom. It felt like the wheel was skidding. It felt like the bus was going to tip over."
oahu hawaii hotels The teenager said that when the bus struck the pillar, she flipped out of her seat and landed on a stairway leading to the lower deck. Collins oahu hawaii hotels said she could hear people in the front of the bus moaning and crying.
By evening, many of the uninjured passengers already had been taken by bus from the community oahu hawaii hotels center to St. Louis. Others were picked up by relatives, including 27-year-old Megan Arns of St. Charles, oahu hawaii hotels Mo., a St. Louis suburb. Her parents made the 70-mile trip to get her.
Arns was on the top deck of the bus near the back talking to a woman next to her when "all of a sudden it felt like the bus ran over something really, really big." She said she could feel the bus lose control as it rolled into the median and toward the pillar.
Villaroel said he also was on the upper level of the bus sleeping when he was awakened by screams. "I flew out of my seat and a little girl flew past me," he said, adding that the child appeared to be OK and he escaped with a few bruises.
A string of crashes involving low-fare buses in recent years have prompted calls for tougher oahu hawaii hotels regulation. Four passengers were killed in September 2010 when the driver of a double-decker Megabus smashed into a low bridge outside oahu hawaii hotels downtown Syracuse, N.Y. The driver oahu hawaii hotels was acquitted earlier this year of homicide in the deaths.
Fifteen people were killed in May 2011 when a bus swerved off Interstate 95 in New York City and was sliced in two. Two days later, another bus drove off the New Jersey oahu hawaii hotels Turnpike and struck a bridge support, killing the driver and passenger.
oahu hawaii hotels Federal Motor Carrier Safety oahu hawaii hotels Administration records show that Megabus did better than the national average on inspections and in safety rankings during the 24-month period that ended Wednesday. Megabus had three other crashes in 2011 in which one person oahu hawaii hotels died in each wreck, according to federal records. No other details were immediately available.
Since its launch in 2006, Megabus has expanded to more than 80 cities, serving more than 19 million passengers, the company oahu hawaii hotels says on its website. Megabus uses curbside stops to save money instead oahu hawaii hotels of building its own terminals and offers free Wi-Fi on the buses.
The National Highway Traffic Safety oahu hawaii hotels Administration said in statements that it was aware of the accident and would work with local authorities "to determine if there are safety implications that merit agency oahu hawaii hotels action," but that the agency was not investigating the crash.
A strong thunderstorm rolled through the area about four hours after the crash. Francis said the rain did not complicate the rescue and recovery oahu hawaii hotels effort, although it did make the crash reconstruction more difficult.
The wreckage of a Megabus is removed from the bridge support pilar that it slammed into after blowing a tire, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in Litchfield, Ill. Illinois State Police Trooper Doug Francis said at least one person was killed in the afternoon wreck which was traveling from Chicago to Kansas City. He didn't immediately have other details about the death. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
The wreckage of a Megabus is removed from the bridge support pilar that it slammed into after blowing a tire, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in Litchfield, Ill. Illinois State Police Trooper Doug Francis said at least one person was killed in the afternoon wreck which was traveling from Chicago to Kansas City. He didn't immediately have other details about the death. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
The Megabus is pulled away from the bridge oahu hawaii hotels support Thursday evening Aug. 2, 2012 on southbound Interstate 55 north of Litchfield, Ill. The packed double-decker Megabus slammed into an Illinois interstate bridge support pillar Thursday, hurtling screaming passengers from their seats and leaving at least one person dead and more than three dozen injured, officials said. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, J.B. Forbes)
First responders wheel a crash victim to a waiting ambulance at the scene of a charter oahu hawaii hotels bus crash on Interstate 55 near Litchfield, Ill. Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. Illinois State Police say at least one person has died after the double-decker Megabus carrying 81 passengers blew a tire and slammed oahu hawaii hotels head-on into a concrete bridge support pillar. Officials say more than two dozen other passengers in varying conditions oahu hawaii hotels are being treated at hospitals. At least four have been flown by helicopter to a trauma center. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, David Spencer)
First responders work the scene of a charter bus crash on Interstate 55 near Litchfield, Ill. Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. Illinois State Police say at least one person has died after the double-decker Megabus carrying 81 passengers blew a tire and slammed head-on into a concrete bridge support pillar. Officials say more than two dozen other passengers in varying conditions are being treated at hospitals. At least four have been flown by helicopter to a trauma oahu hawaii hotels center. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, David Spencer)
Two helicopters oahu hawaii hotels are parked on the northbound lanes near the scene of a charter bus crash on Interstate 55 near Litchfield, Ill. Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. Illinois State Police say at least one person oahu hawaii hotels has died after the double-decker Megabus carrying 81 passengers blew a tire and slammed head-on into a concrete oahu hawaii hotels bridge support pillar. Officials say more than two dozen other passengers in varying conditions are being treated at hospitals. At least four have been flown by helicopter to a trauma center. (AP Photo/The State Journal-Register, David Spencer)
Passengers on a bus that crashed on Interstate 55 just north of Litchfield wait on a replacement bus outside a shelter in Litchfield, Ill., set up for travelers not seriously injured on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. A packed double-decker Megabus slammed into an Illinois interstate bridge support oahu hawaii hotels pillar Thursday, hurtling screaming passengers from their seats and leaving at least one person dead and more than three dozen injured, officials said. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Christian Gooden)
This photo from video provided by KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis, shows the scene near Litchfield, Ill., where a double-decker Megabus struck a concrete bridge pillar along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois. There was no immediate word of injuries in the Thursday afternoon wreck. oahu hawaii hotels (AP Photo/Courtesy KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis)
This photo from video provided by KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis, shows the scene near Litchfield, Ill., where a double-decker Megabus struck a concrete bridge pillar along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois. There was no immediate word of injuries in the Thursday afternoon wreck. (AP Photo/Courtesy KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis)
This photo from video provided by KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis, shows the scene near Litchfield, Ill., where a double-decker oahu hawaii hotels Megabus oahu hawaii hotels struck a concrete bridge pillar along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois. There was no immediate word of injuries in the Thursday afternoon wreck. (AP Photo/Courtesy KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis)
This photo from video provided by KSDK-TV NewsCenter5 in St. Louis, shows emergency vehicles at the scene near Litchfield, Ill., where a double-decker Megabus traveling from Chicago to Kansas City struck a concrete bridge pillar along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois. There was no immediate word of injuries in the Thursday afternoon wreck. (AP Photo/Courtesy KSDK-TV
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