A 22-year-old man suffered severe cuts to his legs and lower stomach when the tire of an NJ Transit bus blew out at Port Authority, shattering glass in the gate area, according to sources with knowledge of the incident.
The transit agency said a rear tire on a Paterson-bound bus blew out around 6 p.m. Wednesday, shattering a window that then showered glass on two passengers. One man in line to board the 190 Line bus at Gate 232 was pelted by the shattered glass and immediately took off running downstairs.
Video showed the bloodied victim on the ground at the bus terminal. He had a cut to his head, as well.
"It was like a bomb went off. It was loud. I’ve never heard anything like that," said Mark Ramos, who told NBC New York he was on the bus, seated above the tire, when the tire blew.
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He said there was immediate panic because no one was sure what happened.
"Sounded like an explosion, it sounded like a bomb went off honestly. It was so loud it obviously shook the bus a little bit," Ramos said. "All we saw was glass on the floor, blood. I saw the guys wallet and we were all like, what’s going on here."
The injured man was in "obvious pain" while applying a towel to his wounds, said Ramos, who ran downstairs with other passengers to check on him and return his wallet he dropped in the chaos.
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"Luckily because the tire was low, the blast came through the bottom of the glass and cut up his legs pretty bad," Ramos said.
NJ Transit said the injured passenger was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening. A second person had a small cut to the hand and refused medical treatment at the scene.
It was not clear what caused the bus tire to blow out and there was no update Thursday on the man's condition. But Ramos said the freak accident was not something he would soon forget.
"I’m gonna be thinking of this every time I’m standing in that terminal now and a bus rolls up. How could I not, right?" said Ramos. "Couldn’t be worse timing, worse luck for the guy and I just hope he’s alright. I hope he can walk fine. I hope it’s just cuts on the outside of his legs and nothing crazy because it looked bad and very scary for him, so I hope he’s alright."
The incident came just days after another freak accident involving NJ Transit, when train killed a woman and hurt nearly two dozen people in South Jersey after hitting a tree on the tracks.
