Philadelphia

Driver Charged in Tour Bus Crash That Killed 2 Women, Injured 48 in Delaware

Charges have been filed against the driver of a tour bus that crashed in Delaware over the weekend, leaving two women dead and nearly 50 people hurt.

Jinli Zhao, 56, of Flushing, New York is charged with the operation of a vehicle causing death of another person. The charges are in connection to Sunday's bus crash that killed 54-year-old Hua'y Chen of New York City, New York and 30-year-old Idil Bahsi of Istanbul, Turkey. Police say 48 other passengers on board, including Zhao, were injured in the crash.

On Sunday around 4:20 p.m., Zhao was driving a 1996 Setra Touring Coach bus with 49 passengers on board southbound on Route 1 and exiting onto the off-ramp to US-13 northbound in New Castle.

As Zhao tried to turn on the ramp, the vehicle went off the roadway and overturned onto its roof, according to investigators.

The bus slid on its roof, traveled down a grassy embankment and rotated on its left side until it came to a final rest, according to police.

Chen, who was a passenger on the bus, was ejected from the vehicle and then pinned underneath it. Medics pronounced her dead at the scene.

"I guess she was trapped underneath the bus," said Elvis D'cruz, a 19-year-old college student from New Castle, Delaware. "One man was saying, 'my wife, my wife, my life.' That keeps replaying in my mind."

D'cruz tells NBC10 he was driving home with a friend when he spotted the overturned bus. The two quickly got out of their vehicle to help the victims.

"It must've been within five minutes of the crash," D'cruz said. "There were about two to three other civilians there helping out. The bus had flipped over onto its side and some people were still underneath it. The bus was completely in a ditch. We tried to help them get out, as much as we could. We went to the car, got first aid equipment and passed out gauze and bandages, whatever we could to comfort people."

D'cruz described the crash scene as total chaos.

"It just made me feel how fragile life is at times," D'cruz said while in tears. "It was hard seeing that little boy in the middle of the crash scene. What I really can't forget is all of the screaming and the smell of blood in the air. People didn't know what to do. There was no one else at the scene. Within 15 minutes, State Police arrived."

Zhao and the 48 other passengers -- some children -- were all injured in the crash. They were transported by a Delaware State Police helicopter to several local hospitals, including the Christiana Hospital Trauma Center, Wilmington Hospital, Saint Francis Hospital, Middletown Emergency Department and the Alfred I DuPont Hospital for Children.

Of the dozens of people who were hurt, at least three of them were critically injured, including Bahsi. She died from her injuries at Christiana Hospital around 10:45 p.m. Sunday.

"The injuries vary widely," said Dr. Rob Rosenbaum, an Emergency Room physician at Christiana Care. "Some patients have head injuries. Some have injuries to their torso, ribs, abdomen and fractures."

Zhao, who was properly restrained, suffered minor injuries. He was released Tuesday around 4 p.m. into the custody of State Troopers. He was then transported to Delaware State Police troop 2 in Newark where he was formally charged. He was arraigned and committed to Howard R. Young Correctional Institution on $5,000 secured bond.

Officials say the bus is owned by Am USA Express Incorporated, a regional bus transportation company based in Chinatown, New York. According to records, the company has been cited for 18 safety violations since 2012. The violations include equipment issues and drivers going over their hours. One of the company's buses was also involved in a minor crash last June.

The passengers in Sunday's accident were part of a sightseeing group sponsored by E World Travel and Tours based in New York City, according to police. Investigators say their three-day trip began Friday when they traveled from New York to Washington, DC. The group was traveling from DC back to New York at the time of the crash.

D'cruz says the passengers appeared to be foreigners.

"They were mixed in race," he said. "There were a few people speaking Mandarin and a few people speaking Hindi, Portuguese and Spanish."

According to D'cruz, the Route 13 off-ramp has a history of accidents.

"They're used to be a guard rail," he said. "People would go highway speeds on it even though you're supposed to slow down. People kept on slamming into the guard rail but it would stop them from flipping. They later on removed the guard rail and put flags up."

Investigators don’t believe drugs and alcohol were a factor in the crash. However, they say more charges will likely be filed as the investigation continues.

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