NEW YORK – A passenger van carrying members of a church blew a tire and flipped over on the New York State Thruway on Saturday, killing at least six people and injuring eight others, authorities said.
Fourteen people were in the van when it crashed on the northbound side of Interstate 87 in Woodbury, about 55 miles north of New York City, at about 3 p.m., state police and the Thruway Authority said. It appeared to be a single-vehicle crash.
“It was a tragic, tragic scene,” said state police Troop T commander Major Robert Meyers.
He said the right rear tire blew out on the 1997 van, and the vehicle went into a rumble strip and rolled over into the grassy median separating the north and southbound lanes. Some of the passengers were ejected, and the van came to a rest upside-down.
Six of the passengers were dead at the scene. Four were flown to a hospital, while four others were taken by ambulance.