SOUTH BRUNSWICK — Emergency responders carried men on stretchers through the front of a windowless bus, slings were put on arms, bandages were applied to bloodied legs and helicopters hovered above it all.

The New Jersey Turnpike resembled a war zone Wednesday after a packed tour bus collided with two trucks that had slowed for traffic, critically injuring three people on the bus, including the driver — who police at one point reported to be dead.

Fourteen others on the bus sustained broken bones, bumps, cuts and bruises in the accident that occurred in the southbound lanes between Exits 9 and 8A in South Brunswick, and resulted in a seven-mile backup, officials said.

Some of the shocked passengers leaned against the guardrail as responders scurried about looking for more people to help.

The crash resulted in a seven-mile backup on the turnpike.

The DC Trails bus, which had departed Brooklyn for Washington, D.C. with 55 passengers, no longer had a windshield and was wedged between a guardrail and the back end of a jackknifed truck owned by J.B. Hunt Tractor Trailers.

The tour bus crashed into the trucks in the outer lanes on the Turnpike shortly before noon, police said.

"Preliminary investigation at the scene indicates that the charter bus came upon heavy traffic and stuck the rear of one of the tractor trailers," said Sgt. Brian Polite, a State Police spokesman. "Contrary to earlier reports, the driver of the charter bus was flown to Robert Wood Johnson and is currently in critical condition along with two other passengers."

It was the second major accident this year involving a charter bus on the Turnpike in Middlesex County.

N.J. Turnpike bus accident in South Brunswick 5 Gallery: N.J. Turnpike bus accident in South Brunswick

But unlike the March 14 crash in East Brunswick, which killed the driver and a passenger and involved a bus company that had one of the worst rankings for unsafe driving in America, Wednesday’s crash involved a bus company with a good driving record.

DC Trails, of northern Virginia, had a safety record that was in the top 25 percent of companies that were inspected over the last two years, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

"Our knowledge of DC Trails is they are a very reputable and upstanding organization," said Shakir Shabazz, a charter manager for Villani Bus Company of Linden, which drove the stranded passengers to Washington, D.C. "Unlike some of the most recent incidents, to our knowledge, they operate within the letter of the law. Their vehicles appear to be well maintained and their operators seem to be very alert and courteous on the road.

The DC Trails driver, who State Police identified as Andy Lynch, 52, of Chesapeake, Va., remained in critical condition Wednesday night.

"He has multi-system injuries. The driver has lots of broken bones and active bleeding," Meredith Tinti, trauma surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, said during a news conference at the New Brunswick hospital.

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Six other patients — three adults and three children — were taken to Robert Wood Johnson.

One of the adults was in critical condition and the other two were in fair condition, hospital officials said. The three children were treated for minor injuries and released.

Three other crash victims were taken to Saint Peter’s University Medical Center in New Brunswick and treated for non-life threatening injuries, hospital spokesman Phil Hartman said. One person suffered fractures, and two others sustained lacerations in the wreck.

A spokeswoman for CentraState Hospital in Freehold said the facility received four patients, and all of them were in fair condition.

Dan Ronan, senior director of communications for the American Bus Association, which was handling media calls Wednesday regarding DC Trails, said the bus left Brooklyn and made curbside stops in Manhattan before heading south.

He said the veteran driver, 52, has been a professional for 12 years and has a good safety record.

Ronan said the driver stayed at a hotel in New York Tuesday night after making a run to the city that night.

"There is no indication," the driver was tired, Ronan said. "It looks as though there was just an unfortunate accident on the Turnpike."

By Mike Frassinelli and James Queally/The Star-Ledger

Staff writers Sue Epstein and Ryan Hutchins contributed to this report.

More on this crash:

• N.J. Turnpike bus crash leaves 3 critical, 14 others hurt

Coverage of previous bus crashes:

• Jersey City woman among 4 dead in Virginia bus crash on I-95

• N.J. driver in fatal Megabus N.Y. crash charged with criminally negligent homicide

• Victim's family sues bus company in fatal N.J. Turnpike crash

• Tour bus company in fatal N.J. Turnpike crash has among worst U.S. driver safety records

• Passengers describe bus accident on NJ Turnpike that killed two, injured dozens

• Bus crashes on NJ Turnpike in East Brunswick; 2 dead, 40 injured