A full double-decker megabus leaving Chicago bound for St. Louis crashed into a pillar on an Illinois Highway Thursday afternoon, killing one person and injuring dozens of passengers.
“There was a lot of screaming and crying,” passenger Baysha Collins, told the Associated Press, “There was blood everywhere. I was just in shock.”
The bus, which had 64 passengers on the manifest, was traveling southbound out of Chicago when it blew a tire and careened of the highway and crashed into a pillar.
Collins, who was on the upper deck said “all of the sudden I heard a big boom. It felt like the wheel was skidding. It felt like the bus was going to tip over.” Collins was thrown from her seat onto the stairway leading to the lower deck.
Aditi R. Avhid, 24, of Indian was the only the fatality on the bus, but dozens of others were injured. Able-bodied passengers helped other get off the bus, but the front end sustained significant damage trapping others inside. Emergency crews worked hard to extricate the trapped passengers.
Trooper Doug Francis said that 38 people were taken to local hospitals for treatment. The passengers sustained injuries to their extremities, legs and necks and several passengers had cuts to the heads and legs.
Trooper Doug Francis said he could not confirm that a tire blowout caused the crash. It will likely take a few days before law enforcement can determine the cause of the accident.
This accident has many calling for tougher regulations, but the NHTSB said that Megabus has performed well in their inspections.
The victims of this along with the family of the deceased individual will likely want to retain an accident attorney in order to pay for the costs they incur.
