NEW YORK, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Six passengers were seriously injured after a charter bus carrying high school students hit a bridge overpass Sunday night on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York.

The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday (0400 Monday) on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, Nassau County, according to New York State Police. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries.

The students were returning home from John F. Kennedy International Airport after a spring break trip when the bus crashed into the overpass. Video images on Twitter show the roof of the white bus sheared off as a result of forcing its way through the overpass. Some of the students who escaped the crash stood outside wrapped in blankets as first responders combed through the wreckage.

The driver told police he was unaware of commercial vehicle restrictions on the parkway.

The minimum clearance on the parkway is seven feet, 10 inches (2.38 meters) and accidents involving vehicles striking overpasses is not uncommon on the parkway, according to local reports. In 2017, there were reports that an electronic alarm system would be installed on the parkway to warn drivers of vehicles too high for the overpass.