October 2 2007 - Children injured in Missouri school bus accident

An early morning trip to school quickly changed into an unfortunate trip to the hospital for twenty-one middle school students, as the bus they were riding in overturned. The accident occurred near House Springs in Jefferson County, Missouri. Thankfully, none of the children were seriously injured.

The Jefferson County Sheriff Deputies say that the bus overturned onto its side as the driver of the bus attempted to avoid a vehicle that stopping in traffic.

On the side of the road there was a washed out trench that was approximately a twenty inch drop. It was this drop that eventually was the cause of the bus overturning.

In the moments that followed, all the students, their bus driver, and an adult bus aide all worked together to calmly evacuate.

In the end, seven students and the adult aide were taken by ambulance to St. Anthony's Hospital, and fifteen other students were bused to the hospital to be checked out.

All of this as worried parents tried to get information from school officials, who all, in the end, were relieved by the fact that the injuries were not more severe.

The driver of the school bus had only been driving a month. Before that, he had been working for the bus company as a bus aide for three years. The driver had to undergo testing for drugs and alcohol, but only as standard procedure when a driver is involved in a crash.

The Superintendent says this is the 4th school bus crash in Jefferson County in the last two years.

All of the students were released from hospitals before noon. << back