Texas authorities reported that 10 people were brought to hospitals on Wednesday, including several students, after an elementary school bus rolled over on a rural road north of Austin.
In a Facebook post, the Travis County Emergency Services District said that nine of the injured victims were students. The agency added that the accident also injured the driver, who was brought to the hospital as well.
School Bus Rolls Over
The assistant chief with Austin-Travis County Medical Emergency Services, Kevin Parker, said that one of the injuries was life-threatening and that two were potentially life-threatening. He added that the remaining injuries were not life-threatening.
At the time of the incident, there were 43 people who were inside the bus when it rolled over, which happened after school and before any of the students had been dropped off. An official with the Texas Department of Public Safety said that it is not yet clear why the bus drove off the right side of the road and rolled over, according to NBC News.
While a preliminary investigation is ongoing, an official noted that there was a slight curve in the road near where the school bus rolled over. The driver of the vehicle was described as a seasoned veteran.
The superintendent of the Leander Independent School District, Bruce Gearing, said the incident comes as the community has already experienced other tragedies, such as floods. He said that they want each of the students and their families to know that their prayers are with them.
Transporting Injured Students to the Hospital
Emergency services were dispatched to the scene of the incident shortly after 3:15 p.m. The school bus was found with significant damage as it lay on its side surrounded by trees in an embankment, ABC News reported.
The passengers of the bus who were not transported to the hospital were instead brought to a reunification center for further evaluation and to be reconnected with their families. The injured victims were transferred to the hospital via eight EMS ambulance units and two helicopters.
Authorities said that the fact that helicopters were used did not reflect the severity of the injuries, but rather the distance that emergency services had to transport the victims. Gearing noted that it was not immediately known whether or not the students were wearing seatbelts when the bus rolled over.
He noted that students are typically required to wear seatbelts whenever the bus is equipped with them. Since the vehicle they were riding on was a 2024 Blue Bird, they should have had access to seatbelts, as per Yahoo News.
