Woodbury Woman Dies In Megabus Crash On NJ Turnpike

WOODBURY, NJ — A Gloucester County woman has died after the Megabus crash on the New Jersey Turnpike Tuesday night that an eyewitness said was "an apocalypse, a nightmare."

The driver, also a resident of Gloucester County, was seriously injured.

State police said the double-decker bus veered off the road to the right and rolled over onto the entrance ramp to the Thomas Edison Service Area near Woodbridge around 6:53 p.m.

Almost two dozen people were aboard, on their way from New York City to Philadelphia. Read more: NJ Turnpike Bus Crash: 1 Dead, Nearly 2 Dozen Hurt In Tuesday Crash

State police said Cecilia Kiyanitza, 66, of Woodbury, NJ was airlifted to an area hospital where medical staff pronounced her dead.

First responders pronounced 59-year-old Cheryl Johnson of the Bronx dead at the scene, police said.

The bus driver, a 56-year-old man from Westville, was seriously injured along with two passengers. He was driving the Van Hool double-decker coach bus for Megabus.

Also, 14 passengers had non-life-threatening injuries. Four passengers were uninjured.

State Police say the bus driver lost control while traveling southbound in the left lane, and struck the Ford F-150 pickup truck in the left center lane.

After the impact, the bus went off the road to the right, struck the guardrail, and overturned onto the Thomas Edison service area entrance ramp.

No injuries were reported to the driver of the pickup truck. Related: Death Toll Rises To 2 In NJ Turnpike Megabus Crash

The bus was occupied by the driver and 22 passengers, said State Police, but MegaBus said the bus had 19 people onboard total, including the driver.

The victims were transported to the following area hospitals: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Raritan Bay Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital.

The New Jersey Turnpike was reopened just before 2 a.m. Wednesday.

Gary Lee Fortner ran into the bus and helped pull people out. He told Patch the crash "was something I will never be able to get out of my mind."

"I had pulled into the (Thomas Edison) service area. I was just getting back in my car when I heard this noise you can't really describe: It's metal and you know it's a car wreck, but it's on a different level," Fortner told Carly Baldwin. Read more: Eyewitness To Fatal NJ Turnpike Megabus Crash Recounts 'Nightmare'

Patch's Carly Baldwin contributed to this report.