One person died and eight others were hospitalized Wednesday after a tractor-trailer overturned and sideswiped a small bus on Sound Avenue in Baiting Hollow.
According to Lieutenant David Lessard of the Riverhead Police Department, the bus was coming from the , a Port Jefferson-based center for mentally and physically disabled children and adults with a satellite office in Riverhead.
Four of the accident victims were sent to John T. Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson and four were sent to the Peconic Medical Center in Riverhead.
Lessard said no children were on the bus at the time of the accident, which occurred around 3:20 p.m.
Police said Robert Converse, 54, of Bellport, was driving the 2006 Mack truck, and Gary Rosset, 61, of Ridge, was driving the 2007 Ford van. Police said early Thursday morning, "the driver of the Mack truck lost control and it began to overturn, when it struck the bus."
According to Lessard, the truck, which was filled with gravel, was heading eastbound on Sound Avenue and the van was heading westbound when the trailer tipped over on a hill, causing the accident.
As of the 6:30 p.m., the accident site on Sound Avenue was still closed to traffic and pedestrians.
Riverhead Patch will update the story as more information becomes available.
