A Long Island high schooler in the deadly bus crash in upstate New York recalled the living nightmare of waking to screams — then leaping from a window as rescuers pulled his classmates from the wreckage with “blood everywhere.”
Farmingdale High School pupil Anthony Eugenio, 15, said he “was sleeping” on the way to a band event in Pennsylvania Thursday when he was startled awake by the bus hitting the pavement before tumbling 50 feet down a ravine.
“I woke up, but I didn’t know I woke up — I thought I was in a dream still,” he said soon after the crash that killed two of his teachers and left five students in critical condition.
“I was like, ‘This can’t be real’ … and then I heard everyone screaming.”
Eugenio said he still thought he was just having a nightmare “until I felt the pain in my leg.”
“I don’t even remember if I got thrown around,” he said. “I had to have — I just don’t remember it.”
Anthony Eugenio, a student at Farmingdale High School on Long Island, told of the horror he faced onboard a bus that overturned in upstate New York Thursday. AP
The vehicle flipped over on the pavement on Interstate 84 near Wawayanda in Orange County and tumbled 50 feet down a ravine. ©New York PostThe bus finally came to a stop on its side down an embankment of the I-84, and Eugenio had to jump out the window to escape.
A few minutes later, he said, first responders were on the scene pulling his fellow classmates out of the wreckage.
“As soon as I picked my head up,” Eugenio said, he saw “the kid next to me was covered in blood. I saw blood everywhere.”
Farmingdale band director Gina Pellettiere, a 43-year-old single mom, and Beatrice Ferrari, 77, a history teacher who was also known as the “grandmother” of the marching band, were killed in the crash.
Five students were also critically injured.
Their conditions were unclear as of Friday morning.
The bus, operated by Regency Transportation, was one of six traveling with band members to the camp.
Photos from the scene show the hellish aftermath, with the bus on its side at the bottom of a slope surrounded by trees.
First responders appeared to have used a ladder to climb to the side of the bus to assist victims.
Regency has failed seven of 31 vehicle inspections over the past two years, according to online state DOT records.
It’s unclear what led to the failures.
Students board the bus for the annual marching band camp trip. Instagram/Farmingdale High SchoolThe company received a satisfactory rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, records show.
Regency, which has 14 drivers and eight vehicles, had one crash that led to one injury over the last two years before Thursday, US Department of Transportation records indicate.
Gov. Kathy Hochul suggested Thursday night that the crash appeared to have been caused by “a faulty front tire.”
Regency has failed seven of 31 vehicle inspections over the past two years, according to online state DOT records. It’s unclear what led to the failures. Dennis A. ClarkThe company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Friday afternoon, officials from the National Transit Safety Board arrived at the crash scene to conduct their own federal probe for the next five to seven days.
NTSB investigator John Humm told reporters the agency will investigate three different categories of factors in the crash:
- Vehicle factors, such as mechanical issues with bus or tires;
- Motorcarrier factors such as the driver and the bus company and how they complied with federal regulations;
- and survival factors like the “general crashworthiness of the bus” and the emergency response.
“Generally in a lot of accidents, there’s more than one cause, so there could be several factors that caused an accident like this,” Humm said.
“Our goal is to find out what happened, why it happened and to make safety recommendations to reduce the chance that this kind of accident happens again.”
With Post wires
