Four New York City residents were killed and eight were injured when a passenger van shuttling workers home from a factory in upstate New York overturned early Friday on Palisades Interstate Parkway in New Jersey.
The driver of the van suffered a medical episode right before the accident, police said.
The van, a Ford Econoline E35 carrying 12 people, was traveling south through Englewood Cliffs around 1:25 a.m. when it flipped over the center median just north of the George Washington Bridge, WABC/7 reported. Everyone inside was trapped until firefighters arrived on the scene and extricated them from the mangled vehicle.
All four fatalities were declared dead at the scene, while the other eight were rushed to area hospitals with injuries ranging from bruises to severe head trauma. “Injuries range from minor to severe,” said Lt. Raymond Walter of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police, according to WABC/7.
Among the dead was the driver, 54-year-old George Massey Jr. of the Bronx. Also killed were 49-year-old Clara Estrella of Manhattan, 60-year-old Jose Luis Romer Munoz of the Bronx, and Candida Frias, who lived in Manhattan and would have celebrated her 60th birthday on Saturday, police said.
No one wore seatbelts, police confirmed.
The shuttle was transporting factory workers from the Amscan Distribution Center in the Orange County town of Chester to New York City. At least three of the deceased worked for Party City, which uses the distribution center.
Five of the surviving victims were being treated at Hackensack University Medical Center while another was transported to Jersey City Medical Center. A seventh person was receiving care at the Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck and another was taken to Englewood Health.
The incident prompted a response from the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police, Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, and police, fire and EMS from nearby Fort Lee, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs and Tenafly.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation Friday afternoon.
