SAN FRANCISCO—Twenty people were injured after an open-air double-decker tourbus crashed at a crowded intersection in San Francisco’s Union Square area on Friday, November 13. The accident occurred on the 300 block of Post Street at around 3:00 p.m. in the heart of a tourist-centric area.
The SFPD reported at least 30 people were aboard the bus at the time of the incident. According to police reports and witnesses at the site, the tour bus collided with several vehicles at an area of heavy construction for the new Apple store being built on Post and Stockton Streets.
The tourbus allegedly hit a bicyclist on the road before colliding into pedestrians, and several other nearby vehicles. The tourbus fell onto several cars, decimating construction scaffolding, and trapping passengers and pedestrians under the bus. According to reports, several power lines were also knocked down, which are used for the city’s electrical buses.
No deaths were reported. Six bus passengers, along with the biker were reported to have sustained life-threatening injuries, and are listed in critical condition. The victims are being treated at the San Francisco General Hospital. The hospital’s spokesman Brent Andrew, identifed them to be “three men and three women between the ages of 20 and 60.” The remaining 14 passengers were treated for minor to moderate injuries.
According to San Francisco firefighters, two pedestrians were extricated from the wreckage after being trapped under the bus, a passenger was also trapped on the upper deck.
Authorities are still investigating the crash and trying to determine whether the incident was caused by mechanical failure or if the driver was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. The driver was conscious and coherent after being pulled from the wreckage, but there has not been enough information provided to assess the cause.
