Scene of New Jersey bus accident

In this story:

• 'Bodies strewn every which way'
• 'He's a good driver'
• Related stories and sites

SAYREVILLE, New Jersey (CNN) -- The driver of a bus that overturned on a New Jersey highway and plunged down a slushy slope, killing eight people, had a history of safety violations and speaks only Russian.

But Valerie "Val" Viner's employer defended the driver, who was among 15 people injured in Thursday's accident, as a "good man."

The National Transportation Safety Board in Washington dispatched a team of investigators, because of the number of fatalities and because the agency is in the middle of a study on the crashworthiness of buses.

About 2 inches of snow had fallen on the Garden State Parkway before the accident, but the roadway had been plowed, state officials said.

Viner told NTSB investigators he lost control of the bus as he changed lanes to avoid what appeared to be ice on the roadway.

Authorities will reconstruct the accident during an investigation expected to take six months to a year to complete. At that time, a report and recommendation will be issued, the NTSB said.

'Bodies strewn every which way'

The bus was carrying 23 passengers, most of them elderly, from Brooklyn, New York, to Atlantic City, New Jersey for a day of casino gambling when it skidded on a southbound lane of the parkway near Sayreville, about 50 miles southwest of New York City.

The vehicle left long black skid marks as it crashed through a guard rail, flipped over twice and plowed down an embankment, landing on top of some of the passengers who had just been ejected by the force of the crash.

Conley

Fifteen people were admitted to area hospitals; about a dozen remained hospitalized Friday, with at least one in critical condition.

"Bodies were strewn every which way," said Joseph McKevitt, one of more than 100 rescue and medical personnel who worked for six hours to free victims trapped in the wreckage.

"They just seemed to be in shock," said witness Craig Conley. "They were just sitting there with blood on their face and you know. Some people were actually dead on the side of the bus."

'He's a good driver'

The bus, owned and operated by Bruins Transportation of Brooklyn, was leased by SGS Tours, also of Brooklyn, which offers several daily trips carrying gamblers to Atlantic City casinos.

"It never happened to us before, we're a small company," Eddie Ginzburg, part owner of Bruins, said of the accident. "My heart is just broken, you know."

Bruins has a clean safety record, but Viner's professional driver's license was suspended in March because he had more than nine violation points on his record, New York motor vehicles agency spokesman Joseph Picci said in Friday's New York Times.

He had twice been convicted of speeding, and of failing to stop for a school bus.

His license was reinstated in June after he took a retraining course, Picci said. Viner also was involved in an accident involving property damage in 1996, and his license was suspended a year earlier for failing to pay a ticket.

Viner, 52, was treated and released from a hospital Thursday night and was being questioned by police, said George Black of the NTSB. Toxicology tests were performed on him.

Viner speaks only Russian, and New Jersey State Police said they had to get a Russian-speaking trooper to interview him.

Ginzburg said Viner drove the Atlantic City trip five days a week and never had an accident on the route before. "He's a good driver ... a good man," Ginzburg said.

About 1,000 buses a day pour into Atlantic City, ferrying gamblers to its 12 casinos. Many leave from New York City, about 140 miles away, and the Garden State Parkway is the quickest route.

Correspondent Tony Guida and The Associated Press contributed to this report.