NJ Transit Tire Damage at Port Authority; Man injured – NBC New York

According to sources with knowledge of the incident, a 22-year-old man suffered severe cuts to his legs and lower abdomen when the tire of a NJ Transit bus burst at the Port Authority, shattering glass in the gate area.

The transit agency said a rear tire on a Paterson-bound bus burst around 6 p.m. Wednesday, shattering a window and sending glass crashing onto two passengers. A man standing in line at Gate 232 to board the 190 bus was pelted by shards of glass and immediately ran down the stairs.

A video showed the victim covered in blood on the ground at the bus station. He also had a cut on his head.

“It was like a bomb had exploded. It was loud. I’ve never heard anything like that,” said Mark Ramos, who told NBC New York that he was sitting over the tire on the bus when the tire burst.

He said there was immediate panic because no one was sure what happened.

“It sounded like an explosion, honestly like a bomb had gone off. It was so loud that it obviously shook the bus a little bit,” Ramos said. “All we saw was glass on the floor, blood. I saw the guy’s wallet and we were all like, What’s going on?”

The injured man was in “obvious pain” as he placed a towel on his wounds, said Ramos, who ran down the stairs with other passengers to check on him and return his wallet, which he dropped in the chaos.

“Fortunately, because the tire was too low, the blast went through the bottom of the glass and injured his legs pretty badly,” Ramos said.

NJ Transit said the injured passenger was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. A second person suffered a small cut to his hand and refused medical treatment at the scene.

It was unclear why the bus tire burst and there was no update on the man’s condition Thursday. But Ramos said he wouldn’t soon forget the freak accident.

“I will think of this every time I stand in this terminal and a bus rolls up. “How could I not do that, right?” Ramos said. “Couldn’t be worse timing, worse luck for the guy and I just hope he’s okay, so I hope he’s okay.

The incident comes just days after another freak accident involving NJ Transit, in which a train in South Jersey killed a woman and injured nearly two dozen people after crashing into a tree on the tracks.