More Than 2 Dozen Students Taken To Hospital After School Bus Overturns
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MARS (KDKA) – More than two dozen students were sent to the hospital after a school bus overturned in Butler County on Monday afternoon.
According to emergency dispatchers, the crash happened around 3 p.m. along Route 228 near the Springfield Grille.
In a statement on their website, the Mars Area School District says all 40 students on board were examined by emergency medical personnel.
Six students were transported to local hospitals by ambulance. Twenty-two more students were transported to the hospital by bus. Twelve students went home with their parents.
The school district contacted the parents of all students who were on the bus at the time of the accident.
All the kids were released from various hospitals by Monday evening.
"It was terrifying," 13-year-old Meghan Smith said.
She says she didn't realize the bus was about to flip on its side.
"I didn't really know. I was on my phone," Smith said. "I just heard a weird noise, and it was all a blur. We just went over."
She said there wasn't any screaming, but plenty of crying afterward.
PennDOT says the right side of the bus hit an attenuator, which is a cushion at the end of a Jersey barrier, and then hit a guard rail, before rolling down the hill.
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Of course, parents hearing about it had some frightening moments.
"I was terrified," Ruth O'Donnell, Meghan's mom, said. "I had no idea at that point if she was safe."
"We had six students taken by ambulance to various hospitals. We brought 22 students [to UPMC Passavant] on a regular school bus," Superintendent Wes Shipley said.
The exact cause of the accident is being investigated.
Regular transportation will be provided for students Tuesday with a substitute bus and driver.
Crews brought a crane to the scene to remove the bus.
