CLARK COUNTY — Newly released 911 calls describe the moments after a crash involving a school bus that killed one student and injured over 20 others.
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The crash occurred around 8:15 a.m. Tuesday after a 2010 Honda Odyssey drove into the lane of the Northwestern Local school bus, state troopers said, citing a preliminary investigation. The bus traveled off the right side of the roadway and overturned.
Dispatchers received at least nine calls from witnesses of the crash.
“There’s a bus that ran off the road and flipped,” one caller told dispatchers.
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“You need to get (emergency medical services) started right now a school bus just flipped,” another caller said in a different 911 call.
“I heard the screams,” the caller told the dispatcher, who asked if there were any kids on the bus.
“I’m quite a bit away, but yeah, it’s on its side, a school bus,” a third 911 caller said.
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“I’m just praying it wasn’t a bus, but it sounds about that,” another caller said. “The kids are out of the bus. They’re getting kids out of the bus.”
The bus was carrying 52 students plus the driver, according to Sgt. Tyler Ross of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Over 20 of those students were injured in the crash.
The school bus was on its elementary route when it was involved in the crash about two miles from the school campus, according to a statement from a spokesperson for Northwestern Local Schools.
Two other people in the minivan were injured in the crash and taken to Springfield Regional Medical Center for treatment.