A third major fatal New York highway accident this week occurred in upstate New York early Friday morning. State police say the bus stopped along the shoulder early Friday morning along Interstate 90. The bus then tried to reenter the eastbound lanes when a tractor trailer slammed into the rear end of the bus.

The driver of the tractor trailer suffered fatal injuries in the truck accident and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say 46 people were taken to the hospital after the wreck and 30 of the injured were treated at area hospitals. The fatal accident was further complicated by fire. Both vehicles caught fire after the impact and shortly thereafter the vehicles were engulfed in flames.

Friday morning's fatal accident is the third in less than a week in a relatively small section of New York. Sunday a tour bus was involved in an accident killing two people and injuring another 35 near Avoca, New York. Tuesday a car accident in Benton took the lives of five people riding in a van. All three fatal accidents occurred within roughly 60 miles of each other.

The Friday morning bus accident is not the first in recent months along the East Coast. In March, fatal bus accidents occurred in New York and New Jersey. Fifteen people were killed in the New York bus accident, two people died in the New Jersey bus accident in March.

In May, four people died in a Virginia bus crash. In June, a New Jersey bound tour bus crashed in Pennsylvania, killing the driver and injuring several passengers.

Source Reuters, "Tour bus crash in upstate New York kills one, injures dozens," Aman Ali 22 Jul 2011