An MTA bus slammed into a three-story building Monday afternoon causing injuries to 16 people and serious damage to the structure in Brooklyn, officials said.
The crash happened shortly before 2 p.m. when the bus crashed head-on into the building on Lincoln Road in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. The bus was traveling southbound on Bedford Avenue before the crash, officials said.
FDNY personnel and EMS responded to the scene within minutes and helped evacuate the bus and anyone inside of the building. In total, 16 people suffered "minor or moderate" injuries and 13 of those were transported to a hospital, FDNY officials said.
Inspectors and engineers from the NYC Department of Buildings were dispatched to the scene, finding that the structural stability had been compromised enough to make the building unsafe to occupy. The entire building was ordered to vacate.
The DOB engineers ordered emergency work orders to repair the font of the building, which must be done in order to safely remove the bus from the building. A DOB investigation is ongoing.
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An initial investigation of the crash does not indicate the bus was traveling at a high rate of speed and there is no evidence of a mechanical issue, MTA Bus Company President Craig Cipriano said.
The bus driver, 55, hasn't had many collisions in his 13 years on the job, Cipriano added.
A tenant of the building says the top floor is a residential unit while the lower levels are used as a doctor's office. Elena was inside the third-floor unit with one of their roommates and felt the impact when the bus hit.
"I just heard screeching sounds and then I heard a really really loud crunching sound, like metal into stone and bricks," they said several hours after the impact, still waiting to hear when they could get back inside. "It's a little crazy, but it's not the craziest thing. I'm grateful to be alive."
