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4 People Injured After Minivan Crashes Into Hyperbaric Center, FDNY Says

By  Katie Honan and Aidan Gardiner | September 10, 2015 10:01am | Updated on September 10, 2015 11:40am

 The minivan crashed into a Woodside hyperbaric chamber therapy center, staffers said.
The minivan crashed into a Woodside hyperbaric chamber therapy center, staffers said.
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Jose Lopez

WOODSIDE — Four people were hurt, one of them seriously, when a minivan plowed into a waiting room full of people at a hyperbaric oxygen therapy office in Woodside Thursday morning, witnesses and officials said.

The green Honda Odyssey first clipped an Uber car carrying passengers before hopping the curb on 65th Street and slamming into the Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Treatment Center of Queens, at 65-35 Queens Blvd., about 9:22 a.m., an FDNY spokeswoman and witnesses said.

"I'm driving on Queens Boulevard in the lane, at the light. The driver came up on 65th Place. He's going through the green light, then he's touching my car," said Akram Karimov, 26, who was driving a mother and her daughter in his Toyota Camry to Long Island City.

The van plowed into the side of the building and rammed a hole into the wall, wedging halfway inside.

"I heard the screeching of tires and right when I turned around, I saw the engine of the car. The front of the car went right through," said Victoria Semizo, 29, who was behind the front desk of the medical office.

"The [van] stopped maybe 3 feet from me," Semizo added.

There was a patient in the waiting room watching television before the crash, Semizo said.

"The patient was in shock. She had a panic attack," the staffer said.

"I'm still in shock, right now. It's something that you see in movies, not in real life," Semizo added.

Four people, including the van's driver and the Uber's passengers, were taken to Elmhurst Hospital, an FDNY spokeswoman said.

One person suffered serious injuries that were not considered life-threatening, the spokeswoman said.

The other three people had minor injuries, she added.

The hyperbaric center canceled its remaining appointments for the day, Semizo said.