The driver of a New York City-bound tour bus and seven of his passengers were injured Tuesday morning when it crashed into a braking tractor-trailer. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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The accident happened at about 5:35 a.m. on the southbound section of the New York Thruway near the Ramapo service area, about 35 miles outside the city, cops said.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, who was not injured, told investigators he was cut off by another vehicle, forcing him to hit the brakes. The tour bus behind him, carrying 16 passengers, couldn’t slow down in time and slammed into him.

“It felt like we hit something very hard from behind,” said passenger Nick Sackett, 44, of New Paltz, N.Y., who takes the bus to work daily.

“It seemed quite remarkable that more people weren’t badly hurt,” he added.

Sackett was among seven passengers treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y. They are expected to be released Tuesday. An eighth person remained hospitalized in stable condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The bus was operated by New York Trailways and the uninjured passengers were transferred to another bus bound for the city. The crash delayed southbound traffic for several hours.

The wreck is the latest in a series of bus accidents, including the deadly March crash that killed 15 passengers on a bus returning from Mohegan Sun Casino to Manhattan’s Chinatown.
DN