‘There was blood everywhere’: High school band member in New York bus crash that killed two teachers and left 10 kids hurt says he awoke as it flipped down the hill – as officials warn a blown tire may have caused horror smash

A high school band member who was in a horror New York bus crash that killed two teachers and left ten students hurt has said ‘there was blood everywhere’.

Anthony Eugenio, from Farmingdale High School, told how he had been asleep when the vehicle tipped down a verge and crashed around 1.30pm on Thursday.

He said the smash jolted him awake and he saw a student next to him coated in his own blood before he jumped out the window.

Farmingdale High School marching band director Gina Pellettiere, 43, and retired history teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, were killed in the accident.

State police on Friday morning suggested a blown tire might have been the cause of the horror crash.

The charter bus carrying school students to band camp toppled off an embankment in New York state

Farmingdale High School marching band director Gina Pellettiere, 43, (left) died in the accident

Retired history teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, been chaperoning the school trip

‘The kid next to me was covered in blood. I saw blood everywhere,’ said Anthony Eugenio, a student who was on the bus.

‘I just heard everyone screaming, then after a few minutes some people came to get the rest of the kids out of the bus.’

During a press conference Friday Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman updated that at least 16 students and two adults are still hospitalized following the crash.

The bus was taking students from Farmingdale high school to band camp when it plummeted from the two-lane highway near Wawayanda, New York.

‘I woke up to the sound of it hitting the side of the road, just before it went down, and then everyone was yelling. It landed on its side, I had to jump out of the window,’ said Eugenio.

The bus was carrying members of the Farmingdale high school marching band to camp on Pennsylvania

The community is devastated by the deaths of the beloved band director and volunteer chaperon.

Pellettiere, who reportedly played 20 instruments, has been described by students as ‘a role model, an influential music teacher, and beloved friend’.

Ferrari, who taught at Farmingdale on Long Island for more than 30 years continued to serve as the school band’s ‘grandmother’ by chaperoning trips.

New York governor Kathy Hochul confirmed the deaths and described it as ‘a day of terror’ for the 44 people – four adults and 40 students – on board.

‘What’s going to become of our band?’ student Lucas Castillo Marquez said in an interview with News 12.

‘It’s been such a big part of my high school career, for our director not to be here anymore, it’s never something I would expect.’

The bus was leading a convoy of six buses carrying 300 students, mainly ninth graders, to the marching band camp at Pine Forest in Greeley, Pennsylvania .

New York state police were called at 1:12pm to a bus overturned ten miles from the nearest exit on the two-lane highway near to the Orange County town of Wawayanda.

The bus appeared to have left the busy roadway about 75 miles north-west of New York City and toppled down an embankment before coming to a rest on its side in a heavily wooded area.

Hochul said all 44 people on board were removed from the wreckage within 45 minutes. 

In a coordinated effort, those injured were taken to Westchester County Medical Center or Garnet Health Medical Center in Wallkill.

The trip to band camp is an annual tradition at the school, attended by members of its marching band, color guard and kick line team along with adult chaperones.