Several Injured After Truck Hits Bus

Update at 3:55 p.m.

East Haven Police have released the names of the bus and the truck drivers.

The truck's operator has been reported as Juan Rodriguez, 28, of Allentown, Penn.

And the CT Transit bus driver has been reported as Alexander Diosa, 37, of Cheshire.

Update at 3:30 p.m. Monday

are asking for the public's help in piecing together what led a truck to rear end a CT Transit bus along Frontage Road during Monday morning rush hour.

According to East Haven Police Lt. Joseph Slane, the department’s accident reconstruction team is now investigating the incident.

"Preliminary reports indicate that the CT Transit bus was stopped on Frontage Road in front of Chili’s restaurant at a bus stop," Slane stated in a written release. "A pedestrian had just secured a bicycle to the front of the bus when the bus was struck from behind by the truck."

He added that several passengers — including the pedestrian and the driver of the truck — were injured.

"A total of 26 people were transported between Yale New Haven Hospital and the Hospital of St. Raphael," Slane said. "There were no life threatening injuries and some have already been released from the hospital.?

There are no charges at this time. And the accident investigation is ongoing, Slane said.

If anyone witnessed the accident, they are asked to contact the East Haven Police at 203-468-3820.

Update at 10:30 a.m

The work to clean up spilt fuel and grease at the scene of the bus accident along Frontage Road this morning was briefly delayed after the engine in the truck that struck the bus caught fire shortly before 9 a.m.

"We leave one truck on standby when we do a clean up like this," Chief Douglas Jackson told East Haven Patch at the scene. "And this is why we leave it on a standby."

Firefighters quickly put out the blaze, which may have ocurred due to some sort of electrical short created during the crash, Jackson said.

"They tried to knock it out with an extinguisher not make too much of a mess. But that didn't work, it really started to get going," he said. "So, they pulled a line off and that knocked it right out."

The chief confirmed that a total of 22 people were taken the hospital as a result of the crash, including "four to five" with serious injuries.

"The bus had a lot of passengers on it. They called a mass casualty right away, which starts off a lot processes," Jackson said.

He added that East Haven Fire received assistance on the scene from the New Haven Fire Department.

"And AMR came in strong and set up the triage," he said of the ambulance and paramedic company.

"We had a lot of people to move," Jackson said.

The chief also confirmed reports that a rider had been loading his bike on the rack in front of the bus when the impact occured.

"And the bus is quite a ways — I'd say about a 100 feet — from where it originally started, " Jackson said. "Judging by what is one the ground back there.

Clean up crews will continue to mop of the gasoline and grease that spilled from the truck during the impact.

Chief Jackson said once the clean up crews have the gasoline and grease spill under control, the wreckers will be able to move in and remove the heavily damaged truck and bus from the roadside.

"And then they'll probably just leave this little spur closed," he said of the spill area in front of Chili's Bar & Gril.

Update at 8:45 a.m.

A rider was reportedly loading his bicycle on to the front of a CTTransit bus stopped along Frontage Road in front of in East Haven, when a truck carrying kitchen grease struck it from from behind.

The impact seriously injured four people and led to more than a dozen other riders being taken to area hospitals, according to a WTNH.com report.

Several riders were transported to the Hospital of St. Raphael's in New Haven, and the remaining injured parties were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Because of the number of individuals needing medical attention, a school bus was reportedly used to transport many of the victims to the local hospitals. At one point, six ambulances were on their way to the scene.

Area fire departments — including — provided mutual aid to East Haven.

Officials are now on the scene cleaning up the fuel oil and grease that leaked from the truck following the incident, according to EHFD scanner reports.

are investigating the incident.

Patch will provide additional updates at more information becomes available.

Original Story (Monday at 7:43 a.m.)

Several people were injured after an occupied city bus was reportedly rear-ended by a truck this morning in front of along Frontage Road in East Haven.

The incident occured at about 7:10 a.m., according to the alert.

The bus had to be evacuated. And about 15 are being treated at the scene, some with what appear to be more serious injuries, according to EHFD scanner reports.

Patch will provide additional udpates as more information becomes available.