BASTROP, Texas— A cement truck on a highway Texas crashed into a school bus that transported more than 40 preschool students returning from an excursion to a zoo, which caused the death of one of the children and a man who was in another vehicle, authorities reported.
Officials said the bus overturned in a rural area outside Austin, where a heavy presence of emergency vehicles shut down traffic for hours. The roof of the bus was dented and much of another nearby vehicle was pulverized. There were personal items scattered across the road.
Four people who were in extremely serious condition were airlifted from the scene of the accident. Six others with potentially serious injuries were transported by ambulance, said Kevin Parker, chief of the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services division.
An ambulance bus transported about 10 more patients with minor injuries to a children’s hospital, Parker said. Among the passengers on the bus were 44 students and 11 adults, according to the Hays Consolidated Independent School District.
The child who died “was a beautiful young man” who was in preschool at Tom Green Elementary School in Buda, according to Eric Wright, school superintendent. The little boy’s name was not released.
Wright said that in addition to the two people who died, 51 others were injured, including the bus driver.
The bus was hit around 2 p.m. when the cement truck, which was going in the opposite direction, veered into the bus lane, said Deon Cockrell, a sergeant with the Texas Department of Public Safety. He also noted that authorities told him that initial information indicates that the truck crashed head-on into the bus, causing it to overturn.
The man who died was in a vehicle that either hit the back of the bus, or perhaps part of the cement truck, Cockrell said. There was one person in the truck and a man in the other vehicle. Cockrell did not know how fast they were traveling, and said the truck driver is cooperating with authorities.
Parents of the students riding the bus were notified of the accident and all of the children were with their families in the evening, Wright said.
The bus did not have seat belts because it was a 2011 model, Hays School District spokesman Tim Savoy told the Austin American-Statesman. New buses have had belts since 2017, he added.
State Rep. Erin Zwiener, whose district includes Buda, said in a Facebook post that her heart goes out to the affected families.
“In this terrible time, our community must come together to support those who have lost loved ones and those who are recovering,” he wrote, also thanking first responders and school district employees who he said “saved lives today.”
Buda is located about 25 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of Austin.
Source: AP
