New York State Police said in a news release on Saturday that Shankar Kumar Jha, 65, of Madhubani, India; Pinki Changrani, 60, of East Brunswick, New Jersey; Columbia University student Xie Hongzhuo, 22, of Beijing, China; Zhang Xiaolan, 55, of Jersey City, New Jersey; and Jian Mingli, 56, of Jersey City, died in the crash.

In a statement on Saturday, New York State Police identified the five people who were killed in the crash as Shankar Kumar Jha, 65, of India, Pinki Changrani, 60, of New Jersey, Columbia University student Xie Hongzhuo, 22, of China, Zhang Xiaolan, 55, of New Jersey, and Jian Mingli, 56 of New Jersey.

After spending the morning taking in the breathtaking sights at Niagara Falls, a group of tourists boarded a bus to return to New York City, not knowing about an hour later, their bus would be lying on its side in the ditch off the New York State Thruway.