A school bus crash in west Tennessee on Friday killed two students and injured at least seven other people, officials said.
The crash involving a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck, a Chevrolet Trailblazer and the school bus took place at about noon on Highway 70 in Carroll County, said Maj. Travis Plotzer, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Plotzer said details of the crash were still being sorted out, but it appeared that the transportation department dump truck did not contribute to the crash itself.
Plotzer said there were a total of 25 students and five adults on the bus. The school bus was carrying students and employees from Kenwood Middle School in Clarksville for a field trip to Jackson, Tennessee, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System said in a statement. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
Plotzer announced the deaths of two students in the crash during a news conference. Officials said at least seven other people were taken by air ambulance to hospitals in Tennessee. The nature of their injures was not immediately disclosed. Plotzer called the crash “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
The school’s principal, Karen Miller, said counselors will be available starting Monday. In a written message to families shared on Facebook, she called the crash an unimaginable tragedy and encouraged parents to be attentive to their child’s emotional needs as they process the deaths of their classmates.
“Please continue to pray with us for our students, families, faculty, and staff,” Miller wrote. “I am grateful for the strength of our Kenwood community, and I trust we will all support each other during this difficult time.”
Four people were taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville and were in stable condition Friday, according to a Vanderbilt Health spokesperson.
Another 19 people were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Carroll County, said Kim Alexander, a spokesperson for Baptist Memorial Health Care. All were evaluated and released, though it was unclear how many actually were injured, she said.
The crash was the latest fatality incident involving school buses in Tennessee. In 2022, the National Transportation Safety Board renewed its call for lap and shoulder belts on new school buses, after a bus collided with a utility truck, killing the bus driver and a 7-year-old girl and injuring four other students. Tennessee is among several states that do not require seat belts, although the legislature in 2018 set aside $3 million to reimburse school districts for adding seatbelts to new buses or retrofitting older buses.
Photo: A medevac helicopter crew loads a victim for the flight to a hospital on Friday. (WBBJ-TV via AP)
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Topics
K-12
Education
Tennessee
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