A school bus flipped over onto its roof during a multi-vehicle crash in central Florida on Monday, killing two people — including a 10th grade girl — and injuring several others, authorities said.
Some 39 people were on the school bus that was headed to Winter Haven High School in Winter Haven when an oncoming car crossed the centre line and caused the crash, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference.
“It was a horrible crash,” Judd said. “It was a terrible, tragic morning. We had a beautiful 10th grade girl lose her life.”
The bus had been travelling along a Winter Haven road shortly after 6am (local time) when an oncoming car crossed the centre line and crashed into the side of the bus near the rear wheels, Judd said. The impact ripped the tire off the bus and caused it to crash head-on into an oncoming Jeep, which caught on fire.
One person in the Jeep died. Judd said five to seven people were transported to the hospital with potentially traumatic injuries and that one person remained in critical condition early Monday.
The bus was transporting 39 people in all — 37 high school students, the bus driver, and the bus driver's daughter. Judd said first responders spent the first several hours getting people to the hospital, identifying them and reuniting students with their parents.
“I think this is the most horrific bus tragedy we’ve had in decades, as far back as I can remember,” Judd said.
Just over a month ago on Sept. 3, another Polk County school bus was involved in a crash in Lakeland. Authorities said no students were on the bus at the time, and one person had injuries that were not life-threatening.
Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid said students practice drills on how to leave a bus that is involved in an accident.
“This event could have been far worse. You can see the condition of the bus, you can see its current positioning,” Heid said. The sheriff and superintendent held their news conference directly in front of the overturned bus, which had come to rest in a ditch beside the road.
Helicopter video taken by WESH-TV later in the morning showed a horrific crash scene. The front end of the school bus was a mangled mess of metal, and it appeared to be missing one of its four back tires as it lay on its roof.
Justin Sharpless, chairman of the Polk County school board, asked the community to come together to support the family of the girl who died, as well as the school and school staff.
“There are really no words that can take away the pain of losing a young person,” he said.
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