Airport Shuttle Buses Collide

Monday, February 19th 2007, 8:50 am

By: News On 6

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) _ Two airport shuttle buses collided head-on in the dark near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, killing a driver in one bus and a passenger in the other, authorities said.

The eight other people aboard the two buses were hospitalized, two of them in critical condition, an airport spokesman said.

The Broward County Aviation shuttle buses collided around 11 p.m. Sunday on a road that circles the airport, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Mike Jachles said Monday. He said fire rescue crews worked through the night to remove the bodies from the buses so the roadway could be cleared.

Authorities believe one of the victims, bus driver George Pitter, was driving in the eastbound lane with one passenger when a westbound bus, with seven passengers and the driver, crossed the center line of the road at hit him.

In addition to Pitter, 64, of Hollywood, passenger Jameer Fyzool, 71, of Sunrise, was killed in the crash, according to a statement from the Broward County Sheriff's office.

Emergency crews took eight people to a hospital with conditions ranging from serious to critical, the sheriff's statement said.

Meyer said officials hope to have wreckage cleared by mid-morning. Detectives are still investigating the cause of the crash.