AVOCA, N.Y., July 17 (UPI) -- A tour bus crashed on Interstate 390 in upstate New York Sunday, killing two people and injuring 35 others, authorities said.
State police said the accident occurred about 4:15 p.m. on the highway's northbound lanes in Avoca just north of Bath in Steuben County, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported.
The mishap, which left the bus lodged in a heavily wooded median, caused major traffic snarls in the area, the newspaper said.
The bus, owned by Bedore Tours of North Tonawanda near Buffalo, had left Washington, D.C., in the morning and was bound for Niagara Falls.
State Police spokesman Mark O'Donnell said while the cause of the crash was being investigated, a preliminary report indicated a tire may have blown on the bus, causing the driver to lose control.
The two people who died had not been identified. Three of the injured were in guarded condition and a fourth was in satisfactory condition. The status of the other victims, who were taken to multiple hospitals in the area, wasn't known.
The Washington Post reported a state police trooper said it appeared most or all of the passengers may have been from India.
Rochester's WHAM-TV reported a safety record search on the state Department of Transportation's Web site listed Bedore Tours with a satisfactory safety rating and showed no crashes in the last two years. The TV station said the bus company had no comment when contacted Sunday night.
