Crash on the Tobin Bridge injures 13 who were in van

Workers viewed the damage after a passenger van headed south crashed into a barrier on the Tobin Bridge yesterday. The victims were taken to Mass. General and Tufts Medical Center. (EVAN RICHMAN/GLOBE STAFF)

A van carrying 13 people crashed into a tollbooth's barrier on the Tobin Bridge yesterday, injuring everyone inside the vehicle, State Police said.

The white van heading south on Route 1 drove onto a median and crashed into the barrier just in front of the booth at about 6:30 p.m., according to State Police Detective Martin Robichaud. The victims were taken to Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Tufts Medical Center, State Police said.

The van was heading home to Boston from Home Made Brand Foods, a salad company in Newburyport where the group worked, a sister of one of the passengers said.

"It's crazy. My one sister was supposed to go, and then the other one took her place," Ann Gomes, 50, of Boston, said of her injured sister, Anna Barros, 47, also of Boston. "I don't know how she is yet."

Barros was listed in fair condition last night, said MGH spokeswoman Theresa O'Neill. The identities and conditions of the other 12 patients were not known last night.

As State Police reconstructed the scene, three damaged rows of seats were removed and placed on the side of the road. The van's front window was shattered and glass covered the ground.

The airbags for the two front-seat occupants were deployed. In the back of the van, about a dozen backpacks were scattered near a red-and-white cooler. Five mismatched shoes were strewn on the ground. The large van, which holds 15 people, was a Ford E-350 Super Duty XLT.

Robert Better, Chelsea deputy fire chief, said last night that there were no skid marks at the scene, indicating there might have been a problem with the van's brakes.

"He just slammed in," he said of the driver. "He must have been going pretty good because he fractured the cement [of the barrier]."

A State Police accident and reconstruction crew is still investigating the cause of the accident.

Five of seven booths were closed on the southbound side. The crash caused delays on the Tobin Bridge for about an hour-and-a-half.

Two workers in the booth were not injured, Robichaud said.

The tollbooth employees were upset by the incident, said an employee of the Massachusetts Port Authority who would not give his name.

"You don't want to talk to the people who were working there. You'd be shaken up if you saw that coming at you," he said, pointing to the van.