Greyhound Bus Crash Kills 7 on Pennsylvania Turnpike

A Greyhound bus crashed into a tractor-trailer parked on a mountainous, rain-slicked roadway early Saturday, killing seven people, including the bus driver, who was on his last trip, his wife and an 8-year-old boy they cared for since infancy. At least 18 others were hurt.

The bus bound for Pittsburgh from New York City was carrying 23 people when it veered off the road and slammed into the rig about 130 miles east of Pittsburgh about 4:30 a.m. EDT, State Police Lt. Richard J. Kovalik said.

Police were investigating the cause of what industry officials say is among the worst bus crashes in the nation’s history.

“This is one of the more significant accidents this company and this industry has ever had,” said Craig Lentzsch, chief executive officer of Greyhound.

The truck was legally parked on a wide shoulder, Kovalik said.

The driver was Scott Wisner, 61, of Boothwyn, a 10-year Greyhound veteran who was making his last trip for the company. Also killed were Wisner’s wife of 34 years, Marcia, 57, a first-grade teacher, and 8-year-old Christian Jorgenson, said Tammy Wisner, the driver’s daughter-in-law. The Wisners had been the boy’s legal guardians since he was a baby.

The names of the other dead and injured were not released, and police did not expect to identify the victims until as late as Monday.

Two people sleeping in the truck cab suffered minor injuries, said Bill Capone, turnpike commission spokesman.

One survivor was hospitalized in critical condition and another was listed in stable condition. Sixteen were treated for minor injuries; eight were released.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the state police were reconstructing the accident at the scene and interviewing victims at hospitals.