HELL'S KITCHEN — Two people were injured Wednesday afternoon when an empty tour bus hit an elevated manhole cover at 12th Avenue and West 48th Street and sideswiped a building, police and witnesses said.
The Uniworld tour driver cut his hand and a man eating his lunch in the box truck appeared to be "shaken up" from the accident which happened about 1:30 p.m., according to officials and Richard Hogan who witnessed the accident.
After hitting the manhole, which was exposed 5 inches because of street paving, the bus driver lost control and skidded onto the bricks of the building on 620 12th avenue, Hogan said.
“It sounded like something was entering the building, We were downstairs. It shook the whole place,” said Hogan, a field superintendent for Schindler Elevator Corporation.
He said the bus skidded for approximately 30 feet after its driver lost control and eventually came to a full stop when it struck a box truck parked nearby.
The collision broke part of the tour bus’s windshield and its right door, according to witnesses.
FDNY said two people with minor injuries were taken to Roosevelt Hospital.
"Everything is fine, it was just the manhole over there that was an issue," a spokesman for UniWorld Bus Tours said.
