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School bus accident on Upper East Side; woman struck, killed

A woman was hit and killed by a Catholic school bus on the Upper East Side on Thursday, police said.

The woman, believed to be in her 40s, was killed at the corner of 93rd Street and Second Avenue at about 3:30 p.m., police said.

The bus was carrying six children, ranging from 5 to 11 years old, from St. Stephen of Hungary School, police said. The children were not injured.
The bus was traveling west on 93rd Street when it struck the woman, who was walking on Second Avenue, crossing the street.

The school, on 82nd Street near First Avenue, teaches children from Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade, according to it’s website. School officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Other circumstances surrounding the accident were not immediately available. The woman’s identity was not released. Tae Shin, 50, said he looked outside shortly after the collision and saw the woman lying underneath the bus. Groceries were strewn about her, he said.

“This accident is not the first time,” said Shin, who owns the Subway restaurant on the corner. “The city needs to do something about this intersection.”

A white, plastic sheet hung underneath the yellow bus, shielding it from view. The doors of the bus, which was jutting into the middle of the intersection, remained open as investigators surrounded it.

Witnesses said the children were brought into a gym nearby.

The driver of the bus appeared devastated when he was told the woman was dead, making “guttural sounds of anguish,” said a witness, who asked not to be identified.

Councilman Ben Kallos, who’s district includes the Upper East Side, said all the children had been picked up by the late afternoon.

“It is shocking, as a new council member, that I have more deaths in my neighborhood related to traffic incidents than anything else,” he said.

Second Avenue remained closed to traffic by the early evening.