BASTROP, Texas (AP) — A cement truck veered into a college bus carrying greater than 40 pre-Ok college students coming back from a area journey to a Texas zoo Friday, killing a boy on the bus and a person in one other car, authorities stated.
Officers stated the bus rolled over on the freeway within the rural outskirts of Austin, the place a heavy presence of emergency automobiles shut down visitors for hours. The roof of the bus was crumpled, and far of one other car close by was pulverized. Private objects have been strewn throughout the street.
4 folks in essential situation have been airlifted from the crash web site. Six others with probably critical accidents have been transported by ambulance, stated Kevin Parker, division chief Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Companies.
An ambulance bus transported about 10 different sufferers to a youngsters’s hospital with minor accidents, Parker stated. Passengers on the bus included 44 college students and 11 adults, in line with the Hays Consolidated Impartial Faculty District.
The kid who died “was a valuable younger boy” who was a pre-Ok pupil at Tom Inexperienced Elementary Faculty in Buda, in line with Eric Wright, faculty district superintendent. The kid’s title was not launched.
Wright stated along with the 2 individuals who died, 51 others have been injured, together with the bus driver.
“It is a horrible and tragic day for our faculty district,” Wright stated.
The bus was struck at about 2 p.m. when the concrete truck, which was touring in the other way, veered into the bus’ lane, Texas Division of Public Security Sgt. Deon Cockrell stated. He added that authorities informed him preliminary data indicated the truck hit the bus head-on, inflicting it to roll over.
The person who was killed was in a car that both bumped into the again of the bus or perhaps a part of the concrete truck, Cockrell stated. There was one particular person within the truck and one man within the different car. Cockrell didn’t know the way quick the automobiles have been going. He stated the truck driver was cooperating with authorities.
Mother and father of the scholars on the bus have been notified of the crash and all the youngsters have been reunited with their households by the night, Wright stated.
Cynthia Yescas stated her 4-year-old nephew had been on the bus and that he was OK, however a little bit harm, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
“The children are extra scared than anything,” she stated.
The bus didn’t have seatbelts as a result of it was a 2011 mannequin, Tim Savoy, a Hays faculty district spokesperson, informed the newspaper. New buses have been fitted with belts since 2017, he stated.
Gov. Greg Abbott stated in a put up on the social media platform X that he spoke with the district superintendent “and supplied the state’s full help as they assist their neighborhood via this tragedy.”
State Rep. Erin Zwiener, whose district contains Buda, stated in a put up on Fb that her coronary heart goes out to the households affected.
“On this horrible second, our neighborhood should come collectively to help those that’ve misplaced family members and those that are recovering,” she wrote, additionally thanking first responders and faculty district workers who she stated “saved lives right now.”
Buda is about 16 miles (25 kilometers) southwest of Austin.
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