MIDDLETOWN, NY (AP) — A charter bus carrying high school students to a band camp veered off a New York highway and tumbled down an embankment Thursday, killing two adults and seriously injuring several others, officials said.

The bus was one of six in a caravan taking the marching band, colour guard and dancers from Farmingdale High School on Long Island on a beloved annual trip to a camp in Greeley, in northeastern Pennsylvania.

It was only about 30 minutes from its destination when the wreck happened a little after 1:00 pm on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda, about 45 miles (72 kilometres) northwest of New York City.

A tire failure may have been to blame for the bus going off the road, Governor Kathy Hochul said.

The two adults who died were the high school’s band director, Gina Pellettiere, 43, of Massapequa, and a retired teacher Beatrice Ferrari, 77, of Farmingdale.

Five of the 44 passengers on board were hospitalised in critical condition, according to state police.

Farmingdale student Anthony Eugenio, 15, was asleep on the bus when he felt a thud and awoke to what he thought was a dream or nightmare. The bus felt as if it was tipping. Then he felt himself tumbling — how many times he can’t recall — as he tried to pull his sweatshirt hood from over his eyes.

“Then everyone was yelling,” he said. “The kid next to me was covered in blood. I saw blood everywhere.”

He crawled out of the overturned bus through a window, dazed but only scraped and bruised. Once outside, he found his backpack, which had been thrown from the wreck, and his missing shoe.

News helicopter footage showed tire tracks on the roadway and a path of ripped-up grass and shrubs on the embankment. Hochul said the bus tumbled 50 feet down the steep slope in a wide median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway. The bus came to rest on its left side, its roof warped. A ladder allowed rescuers to reach the windows.