UPDATED: Two Dead, 2 in Critical Condition After Turnpike Bus Accident

Two died and 41 others, including three children, were taken to area hospitals after a privately owned bus hit an embankment on southbound NJ Turnpike near Exit 9 and ran off the road at around 9 p.m. Monday.

According to the New Jersey State Police, the bus may have entered grass on the center median and hit an overpass support before hitting an embankment on the right side of the road.

According to State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones, the driver, Wei Wang, 50, from Forest Hills, N.Y., and originally from Taiwan, was declared dead at the scene while a second, Troy Nguyen, 20, of Royersford, Pa.,  died at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

Wang had received CPR on the scene before dying, according to the police.

As an hour ago, the State Police reported that two people were still in critical condition at Robert Wood Johnson. Other hospitals included in the rescue efforts were Robert Wood Johnson in Rahway, John F. Kennedy in Edison, St. Peters in New Brunswick and the Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge. 

According to Sgt. Jones, the bus was operated by Super Luxury Tours Inc., of Wilkes Barre, Pa. As of midnight, all of the lanes on the outer roadway were still closed for investigation and there were no back ups observed on the turnpike or on nearby Route 18. All lanes of traffic were re-opened at about 2 a.m.

According to the State Police Twitter feed, @njsp, the bus was traveling from Chinatown in New York to Philadelphia. 

In addition, the NJ Turnpike Authority has a webcam to observe traffic at the exit live. You can find it here.

The fatal accident is the second in the metro area involving a bus in recent days. On Sunday, a bus crash in the Bronx in New York took the lives of 14 passengers.