Eastern Kentucky tour bus involved in Maryland weather-related crashes

Some Eastern Kentuckians are making their way back home after a terrifying bus crash in Maryland.

It happened early Saturday morning on I-95.

According to Katrina Conley, who was on the bus at the time of the crash, they were headed to New York City on a tour bus with Destination Tours. She said they left Hazard on Friday night and were expected to arrive in New York City around 9 on Saturday morning.

Just one mile ahead of a more than 60 car pile-up on the interstate, Conley said their bus slid on ice and crashed into a box truck that had previously stopped after sliding into other vehicles.

"We went through a tunnel and it was raining really hard but when we came out of the tunnel it was ice,” said Conley. “We could tell it was ice hitting our windows. We went probably a couple of miles and that's when we came to the overpass and there were two box trucks and a car that had slid into each other. I don't know if our driver hit the brakes…but we started sliding and we slid into the back of one of the box trucks and that was our first impact. Then we slid around and hit the concrete median and then we spun around and landed against the barrier...the outer barrier of the overpass. We did like a 360. We were facing the oncoming traffic on I-95 North. A car slid into the front of the bus. Then we were sitting there and here come two semis toward us, but luckily they just slid past us.”

Christopher Fugate, who was also on the tour bus, said the accident was terrifying.

“Actually when the initial wreck first took place, I was asleep,” said Fugate. “I woke up to people screaming and the bus was spinning around and we hit a bridge.”

Fugate said officials told him the bus hit black ice.

Following the crash, Conley said they had to wait a few hours before ambulances could take them off of the bus.

“We had to sit on the bus for like three hours because the fire department got to us but they couldn't get any ambulances to us,” said Conley. “They said they had like 60 ambulances out, and I guess at the time the other wreck had happened about a mile behind us, and I guess they had more serious injuries there...so most of the ambulances went there."

She said it appeared there were only minor injuries on the bus and 14-15 people went to the Emergency Room to get checked out.

“My eye is bruised, I have bruises on my leg, my ankle was sore but there was no serious injuries on our bus."

Conley said another tour bus was with them but was not involved in the crash.

She tells WYMT some of the people involved in the crash are heading home on another bus. However, she said she opted out and decided to fly home. She is now traveling back to Knott County from Louisville.

Fugate also decided to fly home. He said he is just thankful to be alive.

"We are truly blessed to be living, to be honest,” said Fugate. “I know the Lord was watching over us, there is no other way to put it."

It is unclear exactly how many people were on the tour bus that crashed.

We reached out to Destination Tours for a comment. They said they cannot release any additional information at this time. However, they did say it only appeared there were minor injuries on the bus.