1 dead, 8 hurt in school bus-truck crash

One person was killed and eight others injured Wednesday in Baiting Hollow, hospital officials said, following what police said was a collision on Sound Avenue between a tractor-trailer and a minibus transporting special-needs students.

Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said the bus, from the Maryhaven Center of Hope in Port Jefferson, and the tractor-trailer, which was carrying gravel, may have sideswiped each other on the curving, hilly two-lane road.

A dispatcher from Maryhaven -- which operates a program for people with special needs -- said six students and two staff members were on the bus.

Sharon Tietze, a spokeswoman for Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, said five of the accident victims were taken there, and one of them, an adult died. She did not specify whether the deceased was on the bus or was the truck driver.

According to The Associated Press, Riverhead police Lt. David Lessard said the person who died was a passenger on the minibus.

The injuries and ages of the four others were not available. Tietze said late last night that two of the four had been discharged, one was still a patient at Peconic and one was transfered to Stony Brook University Medical Center for further treatment.

Nancy Uzo, a spokeswoman for John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, said four of the accident victims -- all adults -- were brought there for treatment. She said their injuries were not life-threatening and that all were expected to be released last night.

A Suffolk County Police helicopter transported at least one of the accident victims, officials said. Their identities and conditions were unknown, as was that of the tractor-trailer driver.

Riverhead Police closed Sound Avenue between Edwards and Fresh Pond avenues shortly after the 3:10 p.m. crash.

Juanita Nash, of Riverhead, who works at a nursery on Sound Avenue, said Wednesday that cars and trucks often speed on the rural road.

"You have to take your time and go slow," she said.