A second person died when a driver lost control of a double-decker bus and collided with another vehicle Tuesday on the New Jersey Turnpike in Middlesex County, authorities said Wednesday.
Three people, including the bus driver, were seriously hurt and 14 others were injured when the bus carrying 22 passengers struck a Ford F-150 pickup about 6:53 p.m. and overturned near the Thomas Edison Service Area entrance ramp in Woodbridge, officials said.
New Jersey State Police said the driver of the Van Hool Coach bus was headed south when he lost control near milepost 93.2 and struck a Ford F-150 traveling in the same direction nearby. Officials on Tuesday said the bus that crashed was a Megabus headed from New York to Philadelphia. Megabus is owned by Coach.
Two passengers on the bus were killed. They were identified as Cheryl Johnson, 59, of The Bronx, New York, and Cecilia Kiyanitza, 66, of Woodbury.
Johnson died at the scene and Kiyanitza was airlifted to a hospital, where she later died, according to state police.
The driver, a 56-year-old man from Westville, was seriously hurt, as were two passengers.
Fourteen other bus passengers sustained minor injuries and four others were unhurt. The driver of the pickup was not hurt, state police said.
The victims were taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Raritan Bay Medical Center, and Staten Island University Hospital, according to state police.
Fire crews from Port Reading, Fords, Woodbridge and Perth Amboy were among other rescuers at the scene, according to the Woodbridge Township Professional Firefighters Association.
In May, 27 people were hurt when a Megabus carrying 47 people crashed and rolled on I-95 north of Baltimore.
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Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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