AURORA, Ind. — A school bus collided with a garbage truck in Indiana on Wednesday, seriously injuring one student and leaving 20 other people hurt, authorities said.
Preliminary information indicates that 18 students, the bus driver and the driver of the garbage truck were injured in the crash, said Indiana State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles. Aerial photos from the scene show the front of the bus smashed into the back of the garbage truck.
Wheeles said the crash occurred around 8 a.m. near Aurora, a city about 30 miles west of Cincinnati. The bus driver and most of the students needed treatment for minor injuries and pain, he said.
One student suffered severe injuries and was taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said Eric Lows, superintendent of South Dearborn Community School Corp. Lows, who initially said 19 students were injured, said the bus was carrying mostly middle and high school students.
No additional details about the seriously injured student were immediately released.
A spokeswoman for Rumpke Waste & Recycling told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the school bus struck a Rumpke residential truck. She said the garbage truck driver was not inside the vehicle when the collision occurred, but was injured by crash debris.
Middle school student Dakota Jones said he was on the bus when the crash occurred along State Road 350 and students began screaming.
“I heard screaming. I heard noises and I went to the back of the bus. A few kids were screaming. Most of them were crying,” he told WXIX-TV after he was treated and released from a hospital.
The crash is being investigated by state police and local authorities.
Wednesday’s crash follows a December school bus crash in northern Indiana that killed a 13-year-old boy. In that case, a truck driver told police he was removing his jacket and a sweat shirt just before his vehicle rear-ended the school bus.
