PORT EVERGLADES -- A Greyhound bus slammed into a group of passengers fresh from an Caribbean cruise as they waited to board a bus at Port Everglades Sunday morning, sheriff's officials said.
Six people were transported to Broward General Medical Center with injuries that were not life threatening.
The accident occurred at around 10:40 a.m. at the port's 19th berth at 2019 Eller Drive.
Lindsay McGrath, 23, of Woodbridge, New Jersey, had just spent eight days traveling with Carnival Cruise Lines to San Juan, St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortula and the Bahamas with her parents, siblings, cousins, aunt and uncle. The group of ten, tanned and rested from their vacation, disembarked from the cruiseliner Sunday morning. They were waiting by their luggage to board a bus to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when the Greyhound lurched toward them, hitting a concrete post first.
"It was two seconds. If it weren't for that , I'd be dead," said McGrath as she sat in a wheel chair, right leg raised, at the emergency room of Broward General Medical Center. She was waiting to be treated and said she had no feeling in her right leg.
The bus struck her, though other family members managed to dodge it. In the scramble, her mother, Nancy McGrath, 50, fell and injured her hand, and her aunt, Carole Baumgartner, 49, injured her side.
Both were admitted and being treated for their injuries.
"I felt like I was in a movie," said Eric Baumgartner, 24, McGrath's cousin. "I turned my head and the bus was coming straight at us."
The McGraths and Baumgartners had been waiting for a bus to take them to the airport for a flight to Newark, New Jersey. They still hoped to board a later flight.
Lindsay McGrath said her family was close and vacationed together every year. They had planned the cruise for months.
"This put a damper on everything," said her father, Robert McGrath, 50. "I'm angry. All I want now is to get my family home safely."
Officials were investigating the cause and details of the crash.
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