Crash of Bally’s casino bus, car kills two

Brendan Schurr

Tuesday, June 5, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

DEPTFORD, N.J. -- Two men were killed Monday when their car careened across a grass highway median, overturned and slid into the path of a bus bound for an Atlantic City casino.

Dozens of bus passengers were injured. State police are investigating whether the car was racing another vehicle.

The crash occurred shortly after 10 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the Route 42 freeway about 10 miles southeast of Philadelphia. After smashing into the car, the bus veered right, sideswiping a pickup truck and forcing it off the road, state police said.

The car, a Honda Accord, was traveling north toward Philadelphia when the driver lost control.

"The Honda was going across the median, almost sideways," Trooper David Lawyer said. "Just before he hit the pavement, he overturned."

The car slid directly in front of the southbound bus, which slammed into it broadside, splitting it in two. The bus then veered right, coming to a stop off the right shoulder of the highway.

Two witnesses told troopers the Honda appeared to be racing and another car might have been involved.

"Some witnesses used the term racing," Lawyer said. "That's being investigated."

Lawyer on Monday night said that possibility was still being investigated, but a "very good witness" did not see any other vehicle involved. State police planned to continue interviewing witnesses Tuesday, he said.

The driver of the Honda was identified as Julian J. Bose, 21, of Marlton, said Lawyer. His lone passenger had not been identified Monday night, he said.

More than 50 people were injured and required hospital treatment.

The bus driver, Seldon Warner, 68, of Danielsville, Pa., was in critical condition at Cooper-Hospital University Medical Center in Camden, said hospital spokeswoman Sharon Clark.

In addition to Warner, three passengers were admitted to Cooper, said nursing supervisor Jan McFetridge. Two were in critical condition and one was stable, she said.

Forty-three passengers from the bus and the two men from the truck were taken to Underwood Memorial Hospital in Woodbury for evaluation. Two people, an 83-year-old woman and an 89-year-old man, were admitted and were in fair condition Monday night, said nursing supervisor Judi Dunn. She declined to say what kind of injuries they sustained.

The other passengers were treated and released, she said. The driver of the pickup truck, Carroll Carter, 73, of Skippack, Pa., also was treated and released.

A spokeswoman for Kennedy Memorial Hospitals said four people were treated and released from its Stratford and Washington Township units.

The bus was carrying a group of senior citizens from St. Elizabeth's Roman Catholic Church in Whitehall Township, Pa., near Allentown, to Bally's Casino in Atlantic City, said Lawyer. State police said the bus was carrying 55 passengers and a driver.

The bus was from VecTour Inc., based in Blue Bell, Pa., and operates motorcoach tour and sightseeing services nationwide, according to its website. It has an office in Easton, where the bus reportedly departed.

Route 42 is a major artery that carries traffic between Philadelphia and the Atlantic City Expressway. Southbound lanes of Route 42 were blocked for hours and traffic was moving slowly in the northbound lanes.