World

2 killed, dozens hurt in US school bus crash

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-06 06:43

Ashley Wiehle, a spokeswoman for Cardinal Glennon, said 36 students were taken to that hospital, and that each appeared to be in good condition. They were to be examined as a precaution, Wiehle said.

Bethany Pope, a spokeswoman for St. Johns's Mercy Medical Center in suburban St. Louis, said six victims were sent there. One of them was later transferred to St. Louis Children's Hospital; the other five were being discharged Thursday afternoon.

Rescue personnel work at the scene of an accident involving two school buses and a tractor-trailer Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010, on eastbound Interstate 44 near Gray Summit, Mo. The school buses were carrying high school band students to an amusement park. [Agencies]

Jackie Ferman, a spokeswoman for the Children's Hospital, said an injured 16-year-old St. James girl was in stable condition and was being assessed by hospital staff.

Four other victims were taken with minor injuries to St. Clare Health Center in Fenton, Mo., a spokeswoman said.

Highway Patrol Cpl. Jeff Wilson said the driver of the first bus moved into the passing lane to give a distressed vehicle in the shoulder more room. She was checking her rearview mirror while returning to the right-hand lane when she noticed the first impact but could not stop in time, hitting the pickup. The second bus then rear-ended the first, vaulting the first bus onto the top of the pickup, which was crushed.

The buses were segregated by gender, with girls in the first and boys on the other, Wilson said.

The pickup was barely recognizable in the tangled wreckage. Hours later, crews using a crane gently lifted the buses off of the crushed wreckage to try to clear the freeway, which was closed going eastbound. Traffic backed up in that direction for as much as 10 miles.

Wilson said it was too soon to say if any of the drivers would face charges.

A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board said a team of 14 investigators will look into the accident and try to determine if there's a broader safety issue.

Video image courtesy of television KMOV.com shows the wreckage of a semi tractor trailer, an SUV and two school buses that crashed earlier Thursday nearGray Summit, Missouri. The two school buses were carrying 8th grade students on their way to Six Flags amusement park. Reports say that at least two have been killed and 50 people injured in the early morning crash. [Agencies]