BEDMINSTER, N.J. (AP) -- A charter bus carrying 45 people, mostly children, to a religious event was struck in a multi-vehicle accident that killed a driver on an interstate early Sunday.
State police say a compact-car driver, tentatively identified as a 37-year-old Bethlehem, Pa., man, was heading the wrong way on Interstate 78 in northern New Jersey and hit an SUV around 5:35 a.m., then spun into the bus. He was pronounced dead a short time later, Sgt. Stephen Jones said; an autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
It was unclear why the driver was traveling in the wrong direction, Jones said. No one aboard the bus was seriously injured except for the driver, who broke an ankle, he said.
The compact car's driver apparently entered an emergency crossover lane near milepost 30 in the Somerset County community of Bedminster. He then stayed there a short time, then made a right turn and collided with the SUV moments later.
The bus was run off the highway into the woods, along with the car, which ended up underneath the bus. The SUV driver and passenger were unhurt; their identities weren't disclosed.
The bus driver, 72-year-old Richard Roach, of New Kensington, Pa., was briefly trapped in the vehicle, Jones said. About a dozen passengers reported minor injuries, mostly bumps and bruises.
The bus, owned by Roenigk Coach Co., of Sarver, Pa., was headed from Pittsburgh to Brooklyn. There were 35 juveniles and 10 adults aboard the bus, which was part of a caravan of three buses headed to a religious event, but further details were not immediately available, Jones said.
The crash shut down a stretch of the highway for a few hours, Jones said.
More than two dozen troopers were involved in the accident investigation.
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