Multivehicle crash in Burlco leaves 1 dead, 11 hurt

A woman was killed and 11 people injured in a multivehicle crash Monday in Burlington County, authorities said.

An SUV headed south on Route 130 in Edgewater Park around 1 p.m. rear-ended a Mercedes-Benz, pushing it into a bus stop. The car struck a person waiting for the bus and then hit a light pole, said Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.

The SUV, which flipped onto its roof, hit at least one other vehicle, Bewley said. Edgewater Park police said four vehicles were involved. Witnesses said several children were among the injured.

The accident, at Cooper Street, forced the closure of Route 130 in both directions, authorities said.

A woman who had been riding in the SUV died at Cooper University Hospital about 4:30 p.m., Bewley said.

Four victims were taken to Cooper and seven to Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro, said Edgewater Park Lt. Gene DiFilippo.

Moz Gonzalez, owner of ATPRO Transmissions, situated at the intersection, was having lunch in his shop when he heard the crash.

"There were bodies . . . all over the highway," he said. "It was ugly, one of the worst things I have seen in my life."

Tray Marino, owner of Marino's Auto Body Repair Center, also at the intersection, said the crash sounded "like a bomb."

"It was like three booms," he said. "We ran out and said, 'Oh, my God, this one is bad.' "

Gonzalez said the pedestrian waiting for the bus was tossed 30 to 40 feet. "She got hit so hard her shoes were knocked off," he said.

Marino said they tried to calm children screaming in the SUV, a black Chevy Tahoe. Gonzalez said good Samaritans also pulled a child from the Tahoe.

A woman in the Mercedes appeared to be bleeding from her head, Gonzalez said.