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35 students rescued from burning bus on NYC bridge

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The Associated Press 8:56 PM Friday, November 20, 2009

NEW YORK — A bus carrying 35 elementary school children on an outing has caught fire on a New York City bridge, but the children and their escorts have been rescued.

The bus was transporting students from Brooklyn's P.S. 5 on Friday morning when it burst into flames near the Staten Island-bound toll plaza of the double-decked Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman says bridge workers used fire extinguishers to douse the flames and removed the 4- and 5-year-old students, their escorts and the driver.

Traffic stopped for an hour on the six-lane upper level of the bridge, which was the world's longest suspension span when it opened in 1964 and was featured in the John Travolta disco movie "Saturday Night Fever."

Paramedics examined the students and the adults. There were no injuries.

The cause of the fire hasn't been determined.

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November 21, 2009 01:50 AM EST

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