PEARL RIVER, N.Y. (AP) — A two-car collision sent a Porsche SUV plummeting off an overpass onto train tracks below, where it burst into flames, killing two teenagers and sending a third to a hospital with serious injuries.
The Porsche fell from Route 304 in Pearl River, New York, on Sunday afternoon and burned on New Jersey Transit tracks below.
Saniha Cekic, 15, of Brooklyn, and Altin Nezaj, 17, of Pearl River, were pronounced dead at hospitals, Orangeburg police said in a prepared statement. The driver, 17-year-old Aisha Radoncic, of Orangeburg, was seriously injured.
“I was watching the car and all of a sudden I heard this big bang,” witness Joe Geppner told WCBS . “We started trying to put out the fire. All we heard was this poor girl screaming. And she was screaming terribly.”
“Thank God the fire department came,” Geppner said. “I kept seeing the flames no matter what they did, they just kept coming up.”
NJ Transit service was suspended in both directions along a section of the Pascack Valley line.
The other driver of the other vehicle, Jason T. Castro, of Nanuet, wasn’t injured, police said. He was driving a Volkswagen Jetta.
Police didn’t provide details on the collision, including its cause.
Nezaj was a member of Pearl River High School’s football and wrestling teams; Radoncic also is a student there, according to the Journal News .
The school was closed for Columbus Day but was offering counselors Monday and throughout the week.
“When our school community experiences a tragedy, such as the loss of a young life, it impacts all of us,” Schools Superintendent Marco F. Pochintesta said on the district’s website . “Our thoughts and prayers are with the students and their families and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)