Baltimore school bus crash leaves students injured

BALTIMORE-- An investigation was underway into a serious accident involving a school bus in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Forty-three people were on board the bus when it crashed Wednesday afternoon, including 42 students and the bus driver.

The bus driver was taken to the trauma center at Sinai Hospital. School officials said she was talking and responsive, but in critical condition.

At least nine students were also taken to area hospitals. Their injuries were believed to be non-life threatening, CBS Baltimore reported.

"A lot of times people are injured, but due to shock or the excitement of the event, they really don't know how extensive their injuries are," Baltimore County Fire Department spokesman Paul Massarelli told CBS Baltimore.

"So when the bus transported the other students that were not injured on the scene up to the high school, some of them started to start feeling some more aches and pains that they probably didn't feel originally because of the shock of the accident, and then they were transported to the hospital," Massarelli said.
"So a total of nine students total transported to St. Joe's, GBMC and York Hospital."

The students on board the bus were from Hereford middle and high schools.

"I kind of blacked out for a second," student Nick Dowell told CBS Baltimore. "Then when I opened my eyes again, we were on the ground and the bus was tilted over. I just saw everyone in shock of what just happened. Someone was really heroic, and they popped the emergency exit and then everyone filtered out. Everyone was okay, but everyone will just be greatly shaken up."

"Well, we were just going down York Road, and I look ahead and see that the bus is swerving, and I just close my eyes," another student told the station. "And when I open my eyes, the bus is on its side and there's just kids all on the side where the windows are. There's cracked glass. Go out the back door and went up the hill. And then the police came and everything."

They were transported back to the high school, where parents were able to pick their children up.

Parents praised both schools for alerting them about what was going on.

"I was a little startled, obviously, a little scared. You kind of go into mom-mode; you go and make sure that you can see him and that he's okay," Brooke Riegel, a student's mother, told CBS Baltimore. "But the kids are good. Everybody was doing a really good job inside there, keeping it safe, making sure all the parents know-and they're checking all the kids out thoroughly, medically."

The cause of the crash was under investigation.