Latest on bus crash: Tractor-trailer crossed into oncoming traffic, collided with truck, bus

10:40 p.m.

Police say a Pennsylvania highway crash that killed three people on a bus carrying Italian tourists to Niagara Falls occurred after a tractor-trailer crossed into oncoming traffic.

State police say a truck heading south on Interstate 380 in the Pocono Mountains region on Wednesday morning entered the northbound lanes and struck another truck going in the opposite direction. They say the northbound charter bus then slammed into the first truck.

A New York City man driving the bus and two other people on it were killed. The other people on the bus have been hospitalized.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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This item has been corrected to show the bus driver and two other people were killed, not three tourists.

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2:15 p.m.

The owners of a tour bus that collided with a tractor-trailer on a Pennsylvania highway say the bus driver was one of the three killed in the crash.

Academy Bus says the driver had more than a decade of experience with the company.

Academy says the bus was en route from New York to Niagara Falls when the accident occurred Wednesday on Interstate 380 in eastern Pennsylvania.

Authorities say the bus was carrying Italian tourists. It appeared to have been chartered by Viaggidea, an Italian tour operator.

A woman who answered the phone at Viaggidea offices in Milan, Italy, said she knew nothing about the accident.

More than a dozen people were injured in the crash. Hospital officials say at least four were in critical condition Wednesday afternoon.

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12:45 p.m.

Authorities say a collision between a bus carrying Italian tourists and a tractor-trailer in Pennsylvania has left three people dead and many injured.

The accident occurred Wednesday morning on Interstate 380.

Monroe County Coroner Robert Allen told reporters at the scene that the death toll had climbed from two to three.

He says all the passengers on the bus were from Italy.

The tour bus has the name of the Academy Bus company but appears to have been operated by Viaggidea, an Italian tour operator whose name is also on the bus.

The company operates tours that head from New York to Niagara Falls and Canada.

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12:30 p.m.

Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say a head-on crash between a bus and a tractor-trailer has left two people dead and sent more than a dozen to hospitals.

Monroe County emergency officials say the crash occurred shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday on Interstate 380 in the Pocono Mountain region about 75 miles northwest of New York City.

The mangled front end of the bus was wedged into the tractor-trailer, which was sheared in half. The cab came to rest on its side in the woods.

The bus is owned by Academy Bus, which didn’t have information on the crash. An attorney for tractor-trailer owner Xtra Lease says he doesn’t know who was leasing the vehicle.

Matt Kislak at the county 911 centre says four of the 13 victims were flown to hospitals.

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This story has been corrected to show that the crash happened northwest of New York City, not southwest.