MULESHOE, Texas—Authorities say nine children were taken to a West Texas hospital after a semi-trailer carrying cattle collided with a school bus.
“The accident happened at 2:20 p.m. at an intersection three miles north of Muleshoe,” according to FOX19.
10 children hospitalized after school bus and semi-truck crash in West Texashttps://t.co/MqI40iyEBx
— FOX19 NOW (@FOX19) June 12, 2019
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Lt. Bryan Witt said on Wednesday, June 12, that the children aboard the Muleshoe Independent School District bus were taken to a Muleshoe hospital for evaluation.
One child later was transported to the University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock for additional treatment, but Witt says the child was not seriously hurt.
The driver of the semitrailer suffered serious injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening.
“He was also transported to UMC, the DPS did not give additional details on his injuries,” FOX19 reported.
The driver of the school bus wasn’t hurt.
Witt says the bus was attempting to make a left turn Tuesday when the semitrailer, which was following behind, tried to pass on the left.
The elementary school-aged children were heading home after summer classes.
Muleshoe is about 70 miles northwest of Lubbock.
School Bus Accidents
In 2018, there was a rash of accidents at school bus stops, leaving several children dead across the United States.
The spate of school bus accidents started in Indiana on Oct. 30, when a driver failed to recognize a school bus’s flashing lights and hit four children who were crossing the street in Rochester to board a bus. The 24-year-old female driver was charged with three counts of reckless homicide following the incident. All three siblings died.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a recent report (pdf), there were 1,172 school-transportation-related fatal motor vehicle crashes between 2006 and 2015.
“From 2006 to 2015, 102 school-age pedestrians (18 and younger) have died in school transportation-related crashes. Sixty-one percent were struck by school buses, 3 percent by vehicles functioning as school buses, and 36 percent by other vehicles (passenger cars, light trucks and vans, large trucks, and motorcycles, etc.) involved in the crashes,” the report said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
