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6 people killed, 3 injured after rental truck, bus collide in upstate New York

LOUISVILLE, N.Y. — Six people were killed and three others were injured when a rental box truck and a bus collided in upstate New York near the Canadian border on Saturday, authorities said.

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According to a news release from New York State Police, the accident occurred at 6:02 a.m. EST in the town of Louisville. Troopers said a 2021 Freightliner Penske box rental truck collided with a 2013 express bus that was carrying 15 people.

Troopers confirmed the six deaths and said one person was in critical condition. Two others who were traveling on the bus were seriously injured.

Officials described the crash site as “gruesome” but said emergency crews did an “amazing job” in their response, according to WWNY-TV.

“Everybody worked really good together. Everybody was on the same page. But like I said it was a very difficult scene for everyone there,” Matt Denner, emergency services director for St. Lawrence County, told the television station. “We had ambulances from Potsdam from Canton, Ogdensburg, Norfork. We were not lacking transporting agencies or EMTS.”

The collision occurred during icy conditions in the area, which borders the St. Lawrence River near the Canadian border. As of Saturday night, 6 inches of snow had fallen in Louisville, The New York Times reported. The highway had tall snow banks on both sides of the road, according to the newspaper.

“The facts about the cause of this accident are unknown at this time,” Randolph P. Ryerson, a spokesperson for Penske, told CNN in a statement. “We do not yet have specific information about the rental vehicle involved or information about who was driving the rental vehicle at the time of the incident.”

The National Traffic Safety Board will send a six-member team to St. Lawrence County to investigate the crash, WWNY reported.

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