Twenty people were killed when a limousine carrying birthday party guests crashed outside an upstate New York restaurant in the deadliest transportation accident in the U.S. since 2009.
The limousine barreled down a hill between state routes 30 and 30A in Schoharie and did not stop at an intersection at the bottom shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday.
All 18 people inside the limo along with two bystanders in the restaurant parking lot the out-of-control vehicle plowed through were killed, authorities said.
"It's just horrific," said National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt. "I've been on board for 12 years and this is one of the biggest losses of lives we've seen in a long, long time."
The Apple Barrel Country Store restaurant is a popular tourist spot during fall foliage season. Its parking lot was crowded with people and vehicles at the time of the crash, according to local reports.
Schoharie is about 45 miles from Albany.
Brothers Axel Steenburg, 29, and Rich Steenburg, 34, were two of the victims inside the doomed limo, the New York Times reported. Axel's wife, Amy, was also killed in the crash, according to her father-in-law, Lester Andrews.
The couple _ who rented the limo _ got married in Saratoga June 30 and posted part of the ceremony on YouTube.
Another newlywed couple was also identified as victims of the crash.
Erin and Shane McGowan married in June and died inside the limo, according to family members.
The NTSB is investigating are probing the fatal crash. The full list of the names of the dead is being withheld pending family notification.
Only the limo driver and anyone in the passenger seat next to the driver were required by law to wear seat belts. Investigators said they would try to determine who was and was not wearing seat belts.
A local official said the road has long been a hazard despite improvements made by the state seven years ago.
"There have been tractor trailers that have come barreling down that hill and it was a miracle they didn't kill somebody," Schoharie Town Supervisor Alan Tavenner told the Albany Times Union.
First responders were shaken up by the carnage at the scene.
"All the men and women (mostly volunteers) I know and saw yesterday...were deeply affected by this," Hope Harvey posted on the Schoharie Co. Fire Wire Facebook page.
