3 passengers dead after charter bus crashes in Pennsylvania, state police say

LOWER PAXTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — A charter bus carrying up to 50 people collided with a vehicle on an interstate in Pennsylvania, killing three people, state police said.

The crash happened during heavy rain around 11:50 p.m. Sunday on southbound Interstate 81 in Dauphin County’s Lower Paxton Township, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania State Police said. The bus hit an embankment, hit the back of a car, and flipped on its side.

“Three passengers were declared deceased on scene,” the police report said, with others injured ranging from minor to severe.

Names of the victims were not immediately released.

“This is considered a mass casualty incident,” Trooper Megan Frazer said. “We do have eight ambulances that assisted with us, as well as lifeline (emergency response), just because of how many people were involved and the amount of injuries.”

It was raining heavily at the time of the crash, WHTM-TV reported Frazer said.

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center received 28 patients from the crash, spokesperson Scott Gilbert said in an email. As of Monday morning, two people were admitted as inpatients, 16 were being treated in the emergency department, and 10 were discharged. He said the hospital was told several other people were taken to another hospital.