Jan. 5—Mention the morning of Jan. 5, 2020, to Jerry Lucia, and the Mt. Pleasant fire chief automatically responds, "Milepost 85. 5 Pennsylvania Turnpike."
Lucia, a borough firefighter for 45 years, has responded to hundreds of crashes along the toll road in Westmoreland County during that time. But a deadly tour bus crash in the Mt. Pleasant section a year ago is etched permanently in his memory.
"It was the most devastating crash I've ever seen on the turnpike. A bus with its side ripped open, tractor-trailers overturned, damaged cars, fatalities and at least 50 injuries. ... I'll never forget it," he said.
A Z&D Tours bus carrying 62 people from New York to Cincinnati crashed into an embankment about 3:30 a.m., causing what state police described as a chain-reaction accident in the westbound lanes with three tractor-trailers and a car. Five people were killed, including the bus driver, and 60 others were hurt.
A message left for the bus company at its headquarters in Rockaway, N.J., seeking comment was not returned.
In February, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the crash, but few new details were disclosed.
The investigation has a long way to go, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. The investigation requires interviews with multiple witnesses and collection of evidence. In addition, vehicle inspection data and driving records must be gathered from multiple states.
"These type of investigations can take up to two years to complete," Knudson said. A final report may be released late this year or perhaps 2022.
Investigators are trying to determine what caused the bus to lose control when driving around a curve along the windy, downhill westbound stretch.
The bus driver, Shuang Qing Feng, 58, of Flushing, N.Y., was steering west on a downhill curve at 3:30 a.m. The bus veered toward the median in the middle of the turnpike, then swerved right, crossing all travel lanes and hitting a steep embankment, according to the report.
State police said the bus hit the center barrier before swerving right, but the preliminary NTSB report did not include that detail.
The bus rolled onto its passenger side after hitting the embankment and slid to a stop on the road. It stretched diagonally across the westbound lanes, with its underside facing oncoming traffic, according to the report.
A FedEx tractor-trailer hit the bottom of the bus, ejecting passengers Eileen Zelis Aria, 35, of Bronx, N.Y., and Jaremy Vazquez, 9, of Brooklyn, N.Y., police said. Both died.
A UPS tractor-trailer hit both the bus and the FedEx truck, according to the report. The UPS truck was based out of the Harrisburg operating center and driven by Daniel Kepner, 53, of Lewistown, Pa., who was teamed with Dennis Kehler, 48, of Lebanon, Pa. They also died at the scene.
There were 61 passengers in the bus; the surviving 59 were injured.
The FedEx driver was uninjured, and the co-driver suffered minor injuries.
A car, carrying two passengers in addition to the driver, swerved to avoid the crash, sliding off the road next to the UPS truck, according to the report.
A second UPS tractor-trailer also swerved off the road, hitting the car. The driver of the second UPS tractor-trailer and the occupants of the car were not hurt, police said.
"I remember seeing that car that was damaged so bad that the doors on both sides couldn't be opened. The three guys inside popped out the sunroof themselves and climbed out and were able to walk away. ... It was a miracle," Lucia said.
Scot Graham, Mutual Aid Ambulance's chief operations officer, recalled getting to the scene in about 20 minutes that morning.
"It was really a daunting sight with the wreckage, all the injuries, and there also was a language barrier with the people aboard the bus. Those responders who initially were on the scene really did a miraculous job and you could see they got right to work despite the wreckage, the cold and the language barriers with passengers on the bus," Graham said.
Few of the passengers could speak English, he said.
"The injured passengers aboard the bus were already all out and gathered into one area, being assessed ... on-site triage was set up, it was something. Amid the tragedy, the level of cooperation among agencies was great from the very start," he said.
He said between 30 and 40 ambulances from four counties — Allegheny, Fayette, Somerset and Westmoreland — responded and took patients to Excela Health Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant; Forbes Hospital in Monroeville; UPMC Children's Hospital and UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, both in Pittsburgh; and Somerset Hospital in Somerset.
He said first responders took extra precaution that families were not split up.
Graham recalled that amid all the wreckage, emergency vehicles, people, cold weather and snow, officials had to create an unusual spot for the command post to direct operations.
"We ended up putting it right on top of the concrete Jersey barrier there," he said.
Lucia added that it's been his experience that serious turnpike crashes usually close the toll road between one or two hours at most.
The turnpike was shut down that day nearly 15 hours for cleanup and investigation, the NTSB report said. None of those hurt suffered life-threatening injuries.
In the immediate aftermath, NTSB investigators gathered evidence, including an outward-facing camera from one of the tractor-trailers; an engine module from the bus; preliminary information about a Dec. 17 inspection of the bus, which didn't identify any issues; and a recent review of the driver, which showed satisfactory marks, according to officials.
The board is still gathering records on the other drivers' records, as well as additional information on vehicle performance and "the safety culture of Z&D Tours," according to the preliminary report.
Once the NTSB report is finalized, officials could issue recommendations to improve national road safety.
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