1 person is critically injured as bus overturns on upstate New York highway

CHILI, N.Y. (AP) — A bus with more than two dozen passengers aboard rolled over on a highway in upstate New York on Thursday morning, critically injuring one person and sending others to hospitals, police said.

All 28 people aboard were sent to hospitals, some with minor injuries, after the bus overturned on Interstate 490 west of Rochester around 7 a.m. All but a few of the people were off the bus when emergency responders arrived, according to officials.

“Deputies arriving on the scene found people that were trapped on the tour bus that had flipped on 490,” Monroe County Sheriff Toss Baxter told media at the scene. They “also found multiple people walking alongside 490 in a state of confusion that had been passengers on the bus,” he said.

The bus had left New York City around midnight and had just made a stop at Rochester on its way to Niagara Falls, officials said.

The cause of the rollover wasn’t immediately clear. The driver was cooperating with police investigators, and there was no indication drugs or alcohol were involved. No other vehicles were involved, police said.

Westbound lanes of the highway remained closed as the investigation continued.

“This will be a lengthy investigation,” said Chief Deputy Michael Fowler.

Tribal Sun, the company in Massachusetts police identified as the operator of the bus, did not immediately comment.

“I join the people of New York in praying for the well-being of all involved in this serious incident and am deeply grateful for the heroic efforts of our first responders,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a prepared statement.