Diesel Fumes Fill Bus, Passengers Taken To Hospital

MYSTIC, CT — Diesel fumes from a faulty exhaust pipe flooded a public transit bus with passengers on board near Olde Mystic Village Wednesday morning, officials said.

Old Mystic Fire Chief Kenneth W. Richards Jr. told Patch that of the six people on board the bus at the time, four had symptoms consistent with carbon monoxide exposure and were transported to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.

Richards said representatives of the Southeast Area Transit District, SEAT, were on the scene as was the Connecticut State Police "truck squad."

Richards said the four passengers were transported to L+M via Mystic River and Stonington ambulance companies.

The SEAT public transit system consists of nine member towns East Lyme, Griswold, Groton, Lisbon, Montville, New London, Norwich, Stonington and Waterford. The bus run affected is the #108 that goes to New London. SEAT did not address the reason for the bus being out of commission but did share a tweet advising it was not running.

An hour later, SEAT announced that a bus was on its way to New London.

SEAT general manager Michael Carroll told Patch that he is "sorry that it happened" and hoped the four taken to the hospital would be okay, treated and released.

Carroll said they will "check the bus from stem to stern" to see what happened and will "take steps to make sure it never happens again."