BREAKING NEWS: Lincoln Tunnel Multi-Bus Crash

so we're just pretty much uh sitting tight here okay Caitlyn I'm listening to this it sounds kind of strange to me especially when you have two buses involved you have multiple people injured potentially even more than a dozen injuries that that you wouldn't be hearing anything I mean what what's your take as you're listening to that you have to remember it's incredibly difficult for them to get into the lincol tunnel to get past the vehicles that are already in there to find their way to the accident assess it and then relay all the information back to come up with a plan to get people out of there um to communicate so he we would hope that at this point 20 30 minutes into this accident having happened that this is when we would hopefully start to hear something and we're watching it my producers in the other room keeping a close eye on all of the reports but for now really they're assessing assessing the situation setting up the scene if there are as many injuries as we're hearing reported this could be a very serious investigation so they there's a number of things they have to tend to before they can tend to the other motorist if there's injuries those are the priorities at the moment so the rest of the motorists are going to have to wait until uh they can organize and send more information back out and typically when we see accidents in the tunnel like this I mean what's the fastest way for to get people out of there because I mean if you have injured people you got to get them out you got you know they can't be stuck in this if you in the Helix it looks like you are out of luck and you have to wait to try to trickle through that South tube that one lane of car traffic that's moving through uh the if you are on the 495 approach you can take Kennedy Bou or Kennedy you can head to tonnell unfortunately what happens is you have a lot of people who will start to ride the shoulder to try to get out and exit you get everything compounding in here and you end up with a much more dangerous situation of even more impacted traffic so for now I would say if you can avoid if you're not stuck in this quite yet if you have anyone heading to the Lincoln Tunnel call them text them tweet them whatever you can do tell them to avoid getting on 495 for now the turnpike is okay and we don't know whether they're stopping traffic from heading onto this area hopefully they would do that route three seems fine for now so if you have not hit that stretch yet you're fine and you just need to head up to the George or head down to the Holland if you have hit this unfortunately I can't say that there's any easy way to get out of it Corey because everyone's going to try to panic and get out things get very jammed up and with only that one or two L the South tube moving through you're not going to have a lot of movement to trickle this through so it's a patience game hopefully they'll be able to do something soon to start diverting people out uh it's a possibility though it has not been confirmed there have been times where they will use that third tube to help alleviate some of this but that would mean stopping traffic out of Manhattan that would be a big move and we have not heard anything suggesting that they're ready or willing to do that at this point okay you know I'm actually just seeing a tweet I'm going see if I can pop it up on the computer give me so give me a second chat for like 20 seconds as I try and get this thing on the computer here I will reiterate the situation right now the link tunnel Lincoln Tunnel has two buses that have collided in the center tube that's the center tube you see on your screen right there where no cars are heading in all the cars you do see moving they they're heading into the South tube now remember you've got buses heading in and plus regular traffic and only two lanes so that means you're down to two lanes possibly even one if they're leaving one of them just for buses though at this point I imagine the they'll be trying to move as many people through as possible traffic is completely jammed at the Helix and completely jammed on 495 you have several exit opportunities on Tunnell or on Kennedy to try to get off 495 though I would imagine at this point it's going to be pretty difficult to do that as everyone scrambles to try to escape the delays so for now an hour and climbing as you're heading out towards the Lincoln Tunnel if you're stuck in that that's what you're looking at at least for now but if this is an investigation it could last longer yeah I just want to pop this up guys if you can take the studio PC in the control room just on Twitter there's a lot of conversation happening right now people who are stuck in this traffic they Haven been moving you heard uh Sashi from our crew talking a moment ago about being stuck for a half hour or so and some you start to see some of these pictures out people just sort of sitting there in traffic you know for a half hour or so not even knowing what's going on they're finding out now via Twitter via the news via calls via texts how serious situation is but a lot but a lot of people uh of course frustrated by these delays now it looks like we're starting to see some movement here A Closer shot here of the Helix uh Caitlyn what what do you see that's the South tube that you see moving so they're moving traffic in through just the South tube for now what you see there on sort of the left side of the screen upper left that's the center tube and we still don't see traffic moving through there it does look like they're uh getting them in there but you have to remember how many people are packed in behind this on the approach so they have a lot of people that need to get through a reminder to drivers do not get out of your vehicle do not try to get out and look and take pictures because if traffic does begin to move if you have to scramble back to your vehicle that's going to make it worse and again you're saying the people that are stuck behind this accident are going to have to back back up it's possible that the center tube may have people as you saw on Twitter just now there could be drivers stuck in the center tube behind the accidents in which case they would need to back them out or they may need to wait if it is an accident investigation that could be a very long wait which is what leads me to believe they might try to back them out but what you're seeing right now you'll notice that buses and cars are using both lanes so that means they've eliminated any exclusive bus right now everyone who can get through they're pushing them through hey why don't we go back to our guy who's inside that center tube Sasha are you moving at all Sashi can you hear me another thing to keep in mind I guess not cell reception in the tubes may not be great so you might have people stuck with no word hopefully they can get Twitter we'll send out updates as much as we can to keep them informed okay when we get Sashi back on the phone we'll have to see if he's moving at all because right now we are not seeing any activity from our cameras in that center tube and that of course is where these two buses have collided and again as long as the investigation's underway as long as you have a dozen plus injured people you're not going to see much movement out there yeah for now you can see Cory do you see on the screen there you see up on the upper left there's some vehicles coming out of the center to there there we go what we were talking about about them trying to alleviate those who are stuck this is going to be a very slow process because you can see all the eager drivers trying to get into that South tube to get them to pause so someone else can break in is going to be difficult uh this is a reminder please make sure that you're patient if you get stuck in this or if you speak to anyone just remind them the best thing they can do is stay calm pay attention and try to follow instruction they're trying to get everyone out as quickly as possible but unfortunately with multiple injuries and and the potential for an investigation this is going to continue to become a difficult situation okay A a few pieces of the information just coming into us um about this accident we've been kind of vague as to as to when it happened and exactly where but now we know 9:35 is the time that a New Jersey Transit bus rear ended a private bus so two buses involved one NJ Transit the other a private bus there are 18 injuries total that we were told now we do not know the extent of those injuries uh perhaps if it's a rear ending situation uh the the injuries might be monitored but bottom line is we just don't know at this point uh now this happened in the center tomb as as we've been saying um close closer though to uh to Manhattan so you're heading east of course um why don't we go back to Sashi you you're live out there Sashi inside the vehicle you've been in that center tube and you were halfway so right behind the accident so we're seeing some movement there now what's happening in your vehicle Sasha can you hear us yeah that cell reception it gets you every time as we wait for Sashi I want to point out if you watch those buses coming out of the center tube they're coming out backwards and then turning around to head into the South tube keep in mind what it takes to back a major bus out of a skinny dark tube so that is why this is going to be a slow process so for people like Sashi who are stuck in that center tube if the accident is in fact as far towards Manhattan as it appears to be there's a lot of cars and a lot of backing up it's going to be a slow process uh so anyone who is stuck should not expect that just because we do see some relief that it's going to be quick relief so someone like Sashi could be waiting for some time still for things to clear out yeah we know he's you know when we talked to him last and this was before any movement at all he was literally halfway that was his estimation halfway there so shortly behind where this accident was and so basically the people at the end of the line are going to be people leaving first and you know the people that are close to the accident are going to be stuck there the longest and Cory we have an update for Riders on New Jersey Transit if you were going to take New Jersey Transit buses they are now cross-honoring on New Jersey Transit rail so they will not be running buses through the Lincoln Tunnel obviously as you can see that would not be a good choice for anyone to get stuck in that they will be cross honoring on New Jersey Transit rail you also have fery service as an option which has not announced cross honoring but is a a swift way to get into the City compared to the Lincoln Tunnel at the moment George Washington Bridge and the Holland Tunnel still with very few delays right now maybe five minutes it's very light because we're towards the end if not uh total end of the morning commute so we're not seeing the same kind of traffic which you would typically see so if you have not left yet you have New Jersey Transit cross honoring on Rails for those who had New Jersey Transit bus service plans yeah gwb Holland Tunnel that's the way to be uh you don't want to be here in the Lincoln Tunnel that's not good news uh that's the case for Sashi you see people backing out Sashi any movement where you are I can hear you Sashi any movement for you hello hello Sashi yes yes I can hear you any movement where you are uh no no movement at all there's still status quo still the same Noy personal nothing we're just sitting I do have some good news for you there are Vehicles being backed out of the center tube So eventually that will be you I can't tell you when that will happen I know you said you were halfway through but we are actually right now as we talk to you seeing some buses backing out of the the center tube and moving so some good news but you're not seeing anything any movement where you are no negative nothing from my end if cars are backing up I'm not able to see that from where I am uh we are still just in the same position where we were for the last 40 45 minutes now and since we've spoken you have not seen any additional emergency Personnel out there you're kind of breaking up so I I'm not able to hear you I was asking about emergency Personnel I know you said you hadn't gotten much communication have you seen maybe police out there or you know EMTs or anything like that nothing nothing okay well you know hang with us I I guess you have no choice but but but hang with us I know a lot of folks are going to be stuck there for some time um and if anything happens let us know because we'll get back in there the pictures are showing there is some movement but of course this is going to take a a long time to remedy uh thank you and and stay on the line there uh if you are just joining us let's just kind of recap what's happening right now there is a major situation in the Lincoln Tunnel that Center two which is on the left side of your screen um was closed we're seeing some Vehicles being backed up right now but all of this follows an accident happened at 9:35 an NJ Transit bus rear ended a private bus in the process 18 people were injured now how seriously were they injured we don't know the answer just yet we just know that 18 people were in fact injured and are certainly being treated in some way shape or form in the meantime you have all of these people in the center tube completely stopped uh behind them so for the past hour completely stopped people waiting and trying to figure out what's going on we are seeing that center tube start to CLE up now but it's going to be some time before number one the AC investigation's taken care of because again you have two buses involved in this so police are going to want to make sure they dot the eyes cross the te the whole deal on that also we want to know about the people who were injured but again all those folks who are stuck behind it's going to be some time Kaylin and and Cory you have to keep in mind that that center tube is roughly a mile and a half long so that's a lot of vehicles as we watch them back the buses out and I've only seen buses coming out of the center tube so friends like Sashi who are in regular Vehicles may be waiting a little longer but for a mile and a half worth of cars if that accident is closer to Manhattan as reports are saying that's a lot of vehicles that they need to back out and get out of the way and we also don't know whether the in the process of everything coming to a standstill there's always the possibility of other vehicles getting into fender benders now you're talking about people potentially getting out of their cars a reminder not to get out of your vehicle if you are stuck in these delays if you know anyone or speak to anyone stay with your vehicle they are trickling traffic through the delay on 495 is still about an hour and that is climbing as people head into that direction if you can give a heads up to anyone you know who might be heading to the Lincoln Tunnel they are much better served to head to the George Washington Bridge of the Holland Tunnel where they will have no delay at the moment right now again an hour heading in only the South tube is open and they're sending all traffic through there as they try to relieve some of the congestion but there is a lot to relieve and we still have to get all those Vehicles out of the center tube the investigation because of injuries that investigation inside the tube could last for several hours we hope to see that not become a problem for the evening commute but I would say now if you head out towards the Lincoln Tunnel or in from the Lincoln Tunnel in the evening you might want to think now about rerouting just to make sure that you're not going to be involved in anything