By Makiya Seminera
The Charlotte Observer
GRAHAM, N.C. — Several elementary students were sent to the hospital after a bus crashed on its way to school in North Carolina, officials say.
A school bus on its way to B. Everett Jordan Elementary School smashed into a building early Thursday morning, Oct. 12, according to the Alamance-Burlington School System. Eighteen students were on the bus, and seven were injured in the crash, the school system said in a news release.
Law enforcement received a report at 7:16 a.m. that a school bus had crashed in Alamance County, about 50 miles northwest of Raleigh, according to a North Carolina State Highway Patrol news release. The bus was found smashed into a “wooden structure,” officials said.
While driving to school, the bus driver “traveled off the road to the right, struck a concrete driveway culvert” and stopped after hitting the wooden building, officials said. North Carolina Highway 87 near Judge Sharpe Road was closed for about three hours so state troopers could investigate the scene, according to the N.C. State Highway Patrol.
Six of the seven children who were injured in the crash were sent to UNC Hospital, officials said, and the seventh student was “transported to a treatment facility for evaluation by their parent.”
The ten other students were picked up by family members at the crash site, an Alamance-Burlington School System spokesperson told McClatchy News. Families were notified within five minutes of the 911 crash call, he said.
Alamance-Burlington School System Superintendent Dain Butler said in an Oct. 12 statement that although the crash was an “unsettling event,” it showed “the care and humanity” of the local community as neighbors had come out to help.
“The compassion shown by the many individuals who assisted, comforted, and cared for our children is deeply moving,” he said. “Some of them sat with our students and wrapped them in blankets until EMS arrived.”
The bus driver had minor injuries but wasn’t hospitalized, according to the N.C. State Highway Patrol. The 75-year-old was charged with failure to maintain lane control by state troopers.
He worked with Alamance-Burlington School System since 2010, the schools’ spokesperson said.
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