Teen driver who survived horror crash vows to race again

A 17-year-old racing driver who fractured her spine in a horrifying crash at the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix has vowed to return to the sport after surviving surgery lasting nearly half a day.

German Sophia Floersch flew off the track on Sunday, hurtling into marshals and photographers, before being rushed to a Macau hospital in a stable condition.

“I survived the operation which took 11 hours. Hope from now on it only gets better,” she wrote in a Facebook post on her official account late Tuesday.

“I’m going to come back!” she added.

Floersch said she had to stay “a few more days” in Macau until it is possible to transport her elsewhere.

She thanked the medical staff who treated her as well as the people who helped at the scene of the crash for their “encouraging, calming words in these tough minutes in my car”.

Dramatic footage captured gasps from the crowd as the Van Amersfoort Racing driver’s car flew through the air and into safety netting at the Guia Circuit’s Lisboa bend, a sharp right-hander.

Running 16th, she lost control in a contact down the straight, launched off a curb and bounced off Tsuboi’s TOM’s Racing car.

“My thoughts are also with everyone who was involved in the accident. I hope everybody is healthy,” Floersch said in her post.

The International Motoring Federation (FIA) has said it will investigate the crash.

At least three people have died on the Macau Grand Prix circuit.

British rider Daniel Hegarty died last year after hitting a barrier at Fisherman’s Bend during the Macau Grand Prix’s feature motorcycle race.

In 2012, Portuguese motorcyclist Luis Carreira and Hong Kong driver Phillip Yau were killed within two days of each other during the Macau Grand Prix. NVG

source: sports.inquirer.net

At least 14 killed in China highway pile-up

BEIJING — Authorities in China say at least 14 people have been killed and 27 injured in a highway pile-up.

The accident Saturday night happened after a heavy truck lost control and crashed into a line of vehicles waiting at a toll station in the northwestern province of Gansu.

Last week, 15 people were killed after a bus to plunged off a high bridge into China’s Yangtze River in the western city of Chongqing.

In that previous crash, an eight-second surveillance video released by police showed the driver and a passenger arguing and grappling with each other in the moments before the bus suddenly veered across oncoming traffic and off the bridge. /ee

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Cockroach in car causes driver to crash into overpass stairs in Singapore

SINGAPORE — The sight of a cockroach crawling in her car gave a 61-year-old woman such a fright that she crashed into an overhead bridge in Jurong East Central last Friday.

In photos of the incident shared on Facebook, the red Mazda is seen mounted on the pavement. Its front bumper appeared to be heavily damaged after hitting the railing at the base of the overhead bridge staircase.

The police said they were alerted to an accident involving a car in Jurong East Central, towards Science Centre Road, at about 7:30 a.m.

The woman was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

The Straits Times understands that the woman, who was alone in the car, suffered minor injuries.

It is believed that she was driving along the road when she got a shock at seeing a cockroach in the car.

She lost control of the vehicle and swerved in the direction of the overhead bridge.

Her son arrived at the scene shortly after the accident.

Police are investigating.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

3 killed, 16 hurt as charter bus barrels into NYC bus

NEW YORK — A charter bus owned by a company with safety problems record barreled through an intersection, slammed into a city bus and then plowed across a sidewalk into a building, killing three people on Monday.

The wreck, which was captured by a security camera, ripped away the facade of a fried chicken restaurant and started a small fire. The footage also showed the bus racing through the intersection without applying its brakes.

“The tour bus was flying,” Mike Ramos, a witness to the crash, told the Daily News. “There were people pinned under the front of the city bus. A lady was crying and screaming, ‘Get me out! Get me out!’”

One of the people killed was a pedestrian on the sidewalk, identified by police as Henry Wdowiak, 68, of Queens. The other dead were the charter bus driver, Raymond Mong, 49, and a passenger on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus, Gregory Liljefors, 55.

Sixteen other people were hurt in the crash, which happened at 6:15 am in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, city officials said at a briefing. The charter bus was empty of passengers at the time of the crash.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was shocked by the “sheer destruction.”

A building that houses a number of retail stores, including the restaurant, received substantial impact from the crash, and experts were working to make sure it was secure, the mayor said.

MTA chairman Joe Lhota said that although the investigation has just begun, the evidence indicates there was “an enormous amount of speed.”

“We want to make sure we understand what happened and prevent this from ever happening again,” he said.

Signage on the charter bus showed it was from the Dahlia Group Inc., which has its depot a few blocks from where the wreck happened.

A person answering the phone there declined to comment; there was no immediate response to an email seeking comment.

An MTA spokesman said Mong was fired from the transit authority in 2015 before he went to work for the charter company. The spokesman did not provide a reason for his dismissal.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records show that a Dahlia bus was also involved in a fatal crash in Connecticut in February 2016.

One of the company’s buses was driving through a snowstorm to reach the Mohegan Sun casino when it overturned on Interstate 95 in Madison, east of New Haven. One person died, and 36 people were injured.

The company’s drivers have been cited several times over the past 12 months for safety violations, including failing to obey a traffic control device, speeding and unlawful parking in the roadway.

Federal regulators have flagged the company on a public website of having more infractions than similarly sized companies.

A Yelp page for the company is filled with complaints from motorists complaining about Dahlia buses speeding or driving dangerously.

Liljefors’ widow, Audris Liljefors, told the New York Post her husband was a security guard on his way home from a night job.

“He was a good man. He was a good husband for 27 years. He was a good father to his two step-sons,” she said.

/kga

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net