Buses collide in Manhattan, injuring dozens

July 7 (UPI) -- Dozens of people were injured when two buses collided in Manhattan on Thursday evening, authorities said.

The collision involving a MTA bus and a TopView Sightseeing double-decker happened a little after 7 p.m. at the intersection of East 23rd Street and First Avenue.

FDNY Deputy Chief Paul Hopper from EMS Division 1 told reporters during a press conference that 18 patients have been transported to local hospitals, while another roughly 63 people have requested to be evaluated at the scene.

Hopper said both buses appeared to be at full capacity when they crashed.

None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening with the majority seemingly being cuts, bruises and scrapes, though there were some suspected fractures and head and neck injuries.

"Hopefully, no one else will come out as seriously injured," he said, adding, "We are all quite fortunate it was not much worse."

FDNY Deputy Chief Kevin Murphy, also with Division 1, described the collision as "a serious accident" and that rescue operations were "complicated" by one of the vehicles involved being a double-decker bus.

Ropes and ladders were required to aid the removal of injured passengers, he said.

"Any time you have two buses involved you have a significant number of patients that likely need to be treated, so seeing that quantity of people right away, I think the units did a very good job getting them off the bus quickly and taking them to appropriate resources," he said. "They did a nice job."

While both officials said they would not speculate on the cause of the incident, New York City Transit President Richard Davey told CBS News that the tour bus was at fault.

The tour bus "seemed to have blown a red light and T-boned our bus. Hit it actually twice, it was going so fast, we think," he said.