Fire officials say two double-decker tour buses collided in Times Square this afternoon.
It happened just after 3:30 p.m. near West 47th Street and Seventh Avenue.
Officials say one of the buses, a red Gray Line bus, hit a traffic light and sent it flying.
Witnesses described the mayhem at the moment of impact and when one bus slammed into the light and pole, scattering debris everywhere.
“First of all the sound of it all, the crunching. You can imagine what that’s like. I didn’t know what was going on so I just got up and ran that way as the pole was falling,” said witness Greg Mooney.
“I heard a big bang. I turned around. I see the pole falling…chaos, everybody was screaming and running around,” another witness said.
The FDNY says all of the 18 people injured were treated on scene and are expected to be released from the hospital.
Fire officials say the only bus passenger who was injured was a tour guide on the Grey Line bus, who was thrown forward and had their head caught under the bus’s dashboard.
“We did have one person the tour guide that had to be removed from the bus. Her head was caught under the dashboard actually,” said FDNY Deputy Chief Roger Sakowich.
Police say most of the injuries were pedestrians on the street hit when the traffic light went flying. Fifteen people were taken to area hospitals.
Sources say among the injured were an 18-month-old and her mother.
According to police, one tour bus had no passengers while the other only had three.
Ultimately officials say this could’ve been much worse.
“We are very, very fortunate there weren’t many more injuries. The size of that lightpole, with the street light on it could’ve done a lot more damage. We were very lucky,” Sakowich said.
Both drivers stayed on the scene. The investigation into how this happened is ongoing.
In a statement, the company that operates both tour buses said they were cooperating with the investigation.
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