TOWN OF WALLKILL – Two adult women were killed when the charter bus they were in with 44 high school students careened down a 50-foot ravine on Interstate 84 westbound in the Town of Wawayanda early Thursday afternoon. Preliminary investigation indicated a faulty front tire was the cause of the deadly crash.
What started out as a trip to a band camp in Pennsylvania for a group of Farmingdale High School students, ended in the deaths of Gina Pelletiere, 43, and 77-year-old Beatrice Ferarri.
Forty students were on the bus with five of them rushed to area hospitals in critical condition, said State Police Lt. Col. Richard Mazzone.
Governor Kathy Hochul, who attended a news conference at State Police Troop F headquarters in the Town of Wallkill in the early evening said the day was one of “terror” for those on the bus.
Interstate 84 in both directions from Port Jervis to Middletown remained closed for hours as the investigation continued.
Three other charter buses in the caravan on the way to the camp, pulled off the side of the highway after the crash.
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