Police said everyone inside the limousine, including the driver, died in the crash, and all those killed were adults. The crash killed all 18 occupants of the limousine, including the driver, as well as two pedestrians, in an accident that left deep tire tracks in the ground and the small town about 40 miles west of Albany reeling. The ride ended in the nation's deadliest transportation disaster since 2009, killing the McGowans and 18 others when the limousine crashed into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store in Schoharie on Saturday afternoon. Erin and Shane, who had been a couple for at least three years and got married in June, were just starting their lives together. It's hard and so tragic," said Vertucci, who lives in Saratoga Springs. SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — The 17 friends had all piled into a white stretch limousine for what was supposed to have been a birthday celebration at an upstate New York brewery. “The vehicle appeared in terrible condition,” Abeling said, recalling a text message her daughter received from Erin McGowan.  SCHOHARIE, N.Y. — Erin and Shane McGowan were just starting their life together after five months of marriage when they climbed into a limousine to celebrate their friend Amy's 30th birthday.
– More details have emerged in the horrific upstate New York stretch limousine crash that killed 20 people in the nation's deadliest transportation accident since 2009. Friends and relatives say the 17 passengers killed Saturday include Amy Steenburg, who was celebrating her 30th birthday, her husband, Axel, her three sisters, her husband's brother, and at least one of her brothers-in-law, Times Union reports. At least two sets of newlyweds were among the tight-knit group. They were on their way from Amsterdam, NY, where they all lived, to celebrate Amy's birthday at a brewery in Cooperstown when the limo crashed in Schoharie, killing all the passengers as well as the driver and two pedestrians. Witnesses say the limo sped down a steep hill before losing control at the bottom, where two state highways intersect in a spot notorious for accidents, the New York Times reports. The limo crashed into an empty vehicle in the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store. National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt says the "horrific" number of fatalities makes it the worst US transportation accident since a plane crash near Buffalo killed 50 people in 2009. Valeria Abeling tells the Washington Post that her niece, 34-year-old Erin McGowan, died in the accident, along with Shane, the husband she married in June. She says the group had rented a bus, but it broke down and the company sent the limo instead. Abeling says her daughter received a text from McGowan 20 minutes before the crash saying the vehicle arrived in "terrible condition."