At least 25 injured after MTA bus rear-ended in Harlem

More than 20 passengers on a city bus were injured Tuesday afternoon when a truck slammed into the MTA bus as it was dropping off riders at a stop in East Harlem, officials said.

An oil tanker side-swiped a box truck, which then slammed into the back left corner of a Bx15 bus at 125th Street and Madison Avenue at about 1:45 p.m., transit and emergency officials said. At least 25 people -- including the drivers of the two trucks and the MTA bus operator -- were taken to area hospitals, according to an FDNY spokesman, who said that two of the injuries were considered "serious" because people complained of chest pains.

Frank Austin, the Transport Workers Union's chairman for buses in the Bronx, said the bus operator -- whom he identified as a 15-year veteran whose last name is Patterson -- felt pain in his back and neck after the crash.

"He was letting the people off [the bus/] and it felt like a bomb hit," Austin told amNewYork Tuesday, after visiting Patterson in the hospital. "People were scared because they thought the gas truck was going to explode."

An NYPD spokeswoman said police were still investigating the cause of the crash Tuesday.