A crash involving a limousine at an upstate New York tourist spot killed 20 people, officials said Sunday. A person with knowledge of the investigation tells the AP that 18 of the victims were in the limo and two were bystanders. Local officials tell the Times Union of Albany that a limo speeding down a hill hit bystanders Saturday afternoon at the Apple Barrel Country Store in Schoharie, about 170 miles north of New York City. State police confirmed Sunday the death toll and said the crash involved two vehicles, one an SUV-style stretch limo. Customers in the parking lot were killed when they were hit by the limo coming down a hill on state Route 30 at "probably over 60 mph," Apple Barrel manager Jessica Kirby tells the New York Times.
Witnesses described chaos, with a massive turnout of ambulances and other responders. "I heard some screaming. It looked serious because people were running back and forth," Bridey Finegan of Schoharie tells WNYT. Kirby says simply, "I don’t want to describe the scene. It's not something I want to think about." Schoharie Town Supervisor Alan Tavenner says the intersection has long been considered dangerous, even after the state Department of Transportation made improvements in 2011. "There have been tractor trailers that have come barreling down that hill and it was a miracle they didn't kill somebody," he says.
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