NYPD: 4 dead after car submerges in Queens creek; driver survives, in stable condition

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Four people died after the car they were riding in flipped over into a creek in Queens and sank Friday night, authorities said.

A fifth person — the driver — apparently escaped serious injury and told responding officers that four others were trapped in the car, the New York Police Department said.

Divers from the Fire Department of New York pulled two males and two females from the 2009 Honda Accord, police said. The females and one of the males were pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital Center. The other male was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Queens.

The 20-year-old driver was taken to Elmhurst, where he was listed in stable condition. Police did not identify him or the four who died.

A fire department spokesman said units responded to a call of a car in Steinway Creek, off the East River in Queens, around 10:35 p.m. Friday.

Police said the car was travelling west on 19th Avenue when it hit a curb and rolled over into the water at 37th Street. Other details were not available early Saturday morning. An investigation is continuing, police said.

The accident occurred at a dead-end street next to the creek in Astoria, an industrial neighbourhood in Queens.