Tour bus rolls over on upstate New York highway, killing multiple people, police say

State police stated that a tour bus with more than 50 passengers lost control and flipped over on a major highway in upstate New York on Friday, killing many people.

Officials claimed that the bus was going east on Interstate 90, between exits 49 and 48A, which is roughly midway between Buffalo and Rochester.

"For unknown reasons, the vehicle lost control, went into the median, over corrected and ended up in the ditch," New York State Trooper James O’Callaghan told reporters.

There were "multiple fatalities, multiple entrapments and multiple injuries," O'Callaghan said. He added that at least one of the dead was a youngster.

O'Callaghan said they were still figuring out how many people had died and been hurt.

Trooper O'Callaghan reported that most of the people in the car were not wearing seatbelts and that several of them were thrown out of the car when it crashed. He stated the driver was "alive and well."

Mercy Flight, which offers emergency air transport to hospitals, has had its helicopters make many trips from the disaster scene to local medical clinics, according to its president, Margaret Ferrentino.

By 2 p.m., helicopters had flown two hurt kids to Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo, one adult to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, and another adult to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

“I think we will be busy for a while here,” Ms. Ferrentino said.  “It is a multi-agency response, both air and ground.” She added: “I pray for the victims and for the safety of the responders.”