WHITE DEER TOWNSHIP -- Rescue crews and firefighters swarmed the crash site in White Deer Township after a Greyhound bus slammed into the back of a tractor trailer.
Investigators said the crash happened just before 2 a.m. on Interstate 80 westbound, just west of the Lewisburg/Williamsport exit and shut the highway down for hours.
Newswatch 16 has learned that one of the passengers on that bus is a young woman from our area. State police said Elora Lencoski, from Luzerne County, attends college in Cleveland.
According to her Facebook page, and the page of her college friend, the pair made a spur-of-the-moment trip from Ohio to New York City for a concert. They were on their way home when the bus crashed. She is in serious condition at Geisinger Medical Center near Danville.
Shara King was on the bus and described the chaos afterwards.
“Blood was dripping from my face, I heard people screaming, the guy that was sitting next to me wasn't sitting next to me. He was found, he was all the way up the front, towards, the front bus,” said King. “The girl that was sitting in front of me was found with her legs turned to the side and couldn't get up.”
Greyhound said the bus was heading back from New York City to Cleveland and was carrying 49 passengers, most of whom as well as the bus driver, went to area hospitals.
State police said one passenger, a woman, was found outside of the bus and didn't survive.
Greyhound said the bus's driver is a 12-year veteran with the company.
The driver of the tractor-trailer said he doesn't know what happened, and he told police he was going 45 miles an hour when he was hit.
“Just a big jolt from behind me, I pulled over to the shoulder, got out of my truck, there just a lot of screaming from the people on the bus, people climbing out of the windows,” said driver Akos Gubica.
Most of the passengers were treated and released from the hospitals and Greyhound sent another bus to pick them up and take them the rest of the way to Cleveland, including King.
King said she's happy to be home, safe and alive.