Nearly two dozen people are injured after a SEPTA bus and another vehicle collided in Center City Friday afternoon.
Investigators say a 25-year-old woman was driving a white Mazda sedan westbound on the Vine Street Expressway when she ran a red light and struck a Route 23 bus heading north on 11th Street in Chinatown around 5 p.m.
The bus driver swerved, hitting three other parked cars and scraping the side of a building before coming to a stop on the sidewalk on the west side of 11th Street, according to reports.
"The driver fell out of the seat once the bus got hit," said Alphonso Blackwell, one of the 30 passengers on board when the accident occurred. "So it was like a passenger had to stop the bus."
Authorities say the crash caused the 57-year-old bus driver to suffer a medical condition, possibly a seizure. Medical personnel transported her to Hahnemann University Hospital, where doctors treated her for injuries to her head, neck and back. She is in stable condition.
"A lot of older people that was in the front that were standing up that got hurt too. They fell," Blackwell said.
Police say 20 passengers, including three juveniles, were transported to area hospitals. No major injuries were reported, but a 15-year-old and 14-year-old on the bus suffered minor injuries.
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Officials say emergency crews had to use the jaws of life to get the driver and the passenger in the Mazda out of the vehicle.
The driver suffered injuries to her head and neck and is experiencing leg pain, according to police. The 29-year-old female passenger also had a neck injury and leg pain. Medics transported both women to Hahnemann, where they are in stable condition, according to reports.
The investigation into the crash is ongoing.
