A tour bus bound for a casino rolled over in the wind and snow on Interstate 95, shutting down the northbound lane and sending 55 people to the hospital early Monday afternoon.
The bus crashed at 12:25 p.m. in Madison, north of Exit 61. Within minutes, local firefighters from Madison and Guilford were pulling passengers out of the flipped bus. By 1 p.m. the passengers and rescue teams were clear of the wreck, but police remained on the scene after 2 p.m to investigate the crash.
The injured passengers were brought to New Haven hospitals and to the Shoreline Medical Center in Westbrook.
Gov. Dannel Malloy released a statement Monday about the accident, urging people to use additional caution and to slow down while driving on the roads. State police said they had responded to 162 crashes between midnight and 5 p.m on Monday during the snowstorm that descended on the state during the night.
“Our thoughts are with those who are injured, and we extend our gratitude to the first responders who are working to protect the safety of all those involved,” the Malloy press release said. “Public safety is our top priority.”
Around 30 people walked off the bus without help, and were brought by bus to a Madison warming center where they were treated by the Red Cross. Of those brought to the center, around half a dozen were eventually sent to the hospital for further treatment.
A total of 14 injured passengers were eventually admitted to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment, a number that was far below the expected 30 to 40 patients the hospital had been told to expect from the crash, according to the hospital spokesman Mark D’Antonio.
Medical director for the adult emergency room at Yale-New Haven Vivek Parwani said the hospital had “all hands on deck” when they were alerted to the crash.
“We always like to plan for the worst and hope for the best,” Parwani told the New Haven Register, adding that the initial eight patients to arrive from the accident suffered from muscle strains to broken bones.
Sixteen passengers with minor injuries were taken to the Shoreline Medical Center.
Later on Monday, a multi-vehicle crash in North Haven shut down part of the I-95 southbound lane.
The tour bus had been traveling from New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino outside Norwich at the time of the crash. According to Mohegan Sun spokesman Cody Chapman told the New Haven Register, all additional tour buses that were headed to the casino from New York were told to return to New York on Monday until the weather improved.
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