8 hurt as bus hits truck on NYS Thruway

RAMAPO -- A Trailways bus rear-ended a tractor trailer Tuesday on the state Thruway in the New York City suburbs, crumpling the bus driver's compartment, police said.

Eight people were hurt, but only the driver was hospitalized. He was listed in stable condition.

State Police said the 5:35 a.m. accident on the state Thruway near Sloatsburg, about 35 miles north of New York, may have been triggered when the tractor trailer slowed to accommodate a car that was entering the southbound lanes highway from a service plaza.

Trooper Carlton Deloatch said that according to the report from the scene, "An uninvolved vehicle entering the highway caused the trailer to slow down." The bus, which police said was carrying 16 passengers from Kingston to New York City, then ran into the back of the trailer, the report said.

The police investigation was continuing, Deloatch said.

Trailways did not return calls seeking comment.

Mary Decker, a spokeswoman at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, said eight people were brought there, but seven would be treated and released.

The uninjured passengers were put on another bus, police said. Traffic delays on the Thruway persisted into rush hour.

-- AP