Nebraska school bus crash injures 11 children after colliding with truck

A school bus carrying children collided with a semi-trailer truck in Nebraska on Tuesday, overturning and inuring all the students on board, authorities said.

The accident happened just before 4 p.m. on a rural highway near Champion as the bus was dropping off children after school, the Chase County Sheriff’s Office said.

The school bus made a left turn and collided with the semi, which was hauling a trailer full of grain, according to authorities. The semi hit the rear passenger side of the bus, causing the bus to spin and flip over onto its driver’s side.

The truck continued a short way before going off-road and crossing a ditch and coming to a stop on a nearby property, the sheriff’s office said.

Eleven students ages 6 to 15 were on board at the time of the crash. All the children and both drivers were rushed to the Chase County Hospital “with a wide range of injuries,” the sheriff’s office said. Three of the children were later taken to regional trauma centers.

The bus driver was a 39-year-old man from Champion, and the truck driver was a 20-year-old man from Venango, officials said.

Deputies are still in the preliminary stages of the investigation and requested help from the Nebraska State Police to inspect both vehicles and reconstruct the accident, according to authorities.

Champion is a community located in southwestern Nebraska near the borders of Colorado and Kansas.