Greyhound bus accident sends 14 to hospital

MOUNT GRETNA, Pa. -- Fourteen people were injured when the driver of a New York City to St. Louis Greyhound bus lost control on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early yesterday, sending the bus careering across the highway and up an embankment before it landed on its side on the interstate, briefly trapping a woman, authorities said.

Rescue crews freed the woman from the wreckage in a rural area about a mile east of the Lebanon-Lancaster exit, turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said. Twenty-nine people, including the driver, were aboard, said Greyhound spokeswoman Maureen Richmond, though a turnpike spokesman said he had information that the total might be 25 because of possible duplicates on the driver's manifest.

Officials at three hospitals said 14 people altogether were brought in. Four uninjured passengers were picked up by another bus; the conditions of the others were unclear.

The bus had stopped in Philadelphia and had traveled about 75 miles westbound on the turnpike when it overturned about 6 a.m. on the way to a stop in Columbus, Ohio.

State police said the driver, whom they identified as Kareem Edward Farmer, 24, of Philadelphia, lost control of the bus while traveling in the passing lane.

The front end of the bus struck a concrete barrier and the left rear side rode up against the barrier, according to state police. The bus then crossed over the travel lanes, struck an embankment and traveled up the embankment before flipping over on its left side.

The accident was Farmer's first in the eight months that he has worked for Greyhound, said his father, Derrick Bivins. Richmond declined to discuss his safety record.

Bivins, 46, said he had only had brief telephone conversations with his son after the crash about what happened and that Farmer had suffered a head laceration and cut on his arm.

Farmer had previously driven a tanker truck used to refuel airplanes at Philadelphia International Airport, Bivins said as he spoke outside the family's Philadelphia home.

Both westbound lanes of the turnpike were closed for more than four hours, forcing drivers to be rerouted off the interstate. Traffic had been backed up for about three miles while crews worked to upright the bus, DeFebo said.