Two people have died and five students are in a critical condition after a school bus with a ‘faulty tyre’ plummeted 50ft off a highway and crashed in New York.

Dozens of others have also been severely injured following the devastating incident in Orange County, USA on Thursday.

There were 40 students on board from the Farmingdale Union Free School District on Long Island when the crash happened at around 1pm on Interstate 84 in Wawyanda.

The pupils, who are part of a high school marching band, were heading on a trip to a music camp in Pennsylvania before it plunged down the steep ravine and overturned.

Two adults killed in the crash have been identified as Beatrice Ferarri, 77, of Farmingdale, and Gina Pellettiere, 43, of the nearby Long Island town of Massapequa.

Ms Pellettiere was one of three advisers to the marching band, as well as the lone adviser to both the school’s jazz and ‘pep’ bands, according to the Farmingdale High School website.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul told a news conference that it appeared likely ‘a faulty front tyre contributed to the accident’ near the New Jersey border.

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However, the cause of the wreck which left dozens of students with minor injuries remains under investigation.

Many of the school children were seen walking around the scene after the crash and were taken to different hospitals in the area.

‘Imagine the fear, the screams in the aftermath,’ said Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mazzone of the New York State Police.

‘These high school students, many of them freshmen were surrounded by this chaos.’

Aerial footage and images from the scene show the bus lying on its side with debris strewn across the road and in the shrubbery.

Huge swathes of emergency crews were pictured working desperately to help the injured.

A ladder was erected to reach those trapped inside and significant damage can be seen near the front end of the bus.

Ray Eugenio said on Facebook that his grandson was among those injured in the smash and asked for prayers.

‘He was involved in a very serious accident and we do not know the extent of his injuries,’ he wrote.

New York State Police the westbound lanes of the highway were closed while they dealt with the incident.

Five other buses going to the camp as part of the trip, an annual outing of the marching band, according to the school district, headed back to Farmingdale after the crash, local media reported.

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