Limousine horror: 20 die in worst US road crash in a decade
The collision in upstate New York turned a Saturday afternoon into chaos at a spot popular with tourists taking in the fall foliage
A limousine loaded with revellers headed to a 30th birthday party blew a stop sign at the end of a highway and slammed into an SUV parked outside a store, killing all 18 people in the limo and two pedestrians in the deadliest US transport accident in almost a decade, officials and relatives of the victims said.
The collision turned a relaxed Saturday afternoon into chaos at an upstate New York spot popular with tourists taking in the fall foliage. Relatives said the limousine was carrying four sisters and their friends to a birthday celebration for the youngest.
“They did the responsible thing getting a limo so they wouldn’t have to drive anywhere,” their aunt, Barbara Douglas, told reporters on Sunday.
She did not want to name them publicly but added: “They were wonderful girls. They’d do anything for you and they were very close to each other and they loved their family.”
The 2001 Ford Excursion limousine was travelling southwest on Route 30 in Schoharie, about 270 kilometres (170 miles) north of New York City around 2pm when it failed to stop at a T-junction with state Route 30A, State Police First Deputy Superintendent Christopher Fiore said at a news conference in Latham, New York.
It went across the road and hit an unoccupied SUV parked at the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing the limousine driver and 17 passengers, as well as two people outside the vehicle.