California School Bus Crash Injures Driver, 11 Children

[April 25, 2014]  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Eleven middle school students and a bus driver were injured on Thursday, three critically, when their bus veered off a Southern California road, authorities said.

The bus driver and two of the students from El Rancho Charter School in Anaheim, California, were listed in critical condition at a local hospital, said Bob Dunn of the Anaheim Police Department.

Dunn said nine other students suffered less serious injuries in the late afternoon crash in Anaheim Hills, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles, and were taken to area hospitals by their parents or guardians.

Authorities had previously said 13 people were hurt in the accident. The circumstances of the crash were not immediately clear but Dunn said it did not appear that another vehicle was involved.

The bus was left standing about 20 feet off the road, leaning against a eucalyptus tree, where firefighters took some 15 minutes to extricate the driver from the wreckage.

A spokeswoman for the school said the students were on their way home when the bus crashed. She said all the students had been reunited with their parents, either at hospitals or at home.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb; editing by Cynthia Johnston, Diane Craft and Lisa Shumaker)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.