3 Girls Dead In Alabama School Bus Plunge

Bus Runs Off Overpass Near Huntsville With 34 High School Students Aboard

(CBS/AP)  A bus carrying high school students smashed through a guardrail along an overpass Monday and crashed nose-first 30 feet below, killing three teenage girls and injuring at least 30 other people, several critically, authorities said.

Students on the school bus, which had no seat belts, were screaming when rescue workers arrived. "They were thrown all over the bus," said Huntsville Fire Chief Dusty Underwood. Some had to be pulled from the crushed front of the bus.

Two teenage girls died at the scene, and a third died at a hospital, police said. An earlier report had said four were dead.

CBS affiliate WHNT-TV reports the bus was on its daily route to Drake State Technical School, where students can receive special science and math credits.

Police Chief Rex Reynolds said officers were looking for a small car that apparently came close to or struck the bus, causing it to veer off the elevated section of Interstate 565. More than 30 students and the driver were taken to the hospital, he said.

Frantic parents went to the scene, where some students sat dazed or lay draped in white sheets, and went to the hospital to find their children.

Hospital officials said staff members had trouble identifying some of the more severely injured students who were unable to talk and had no identification on them.

Some parents told WHNT their children called them from cell phones as soon as the bus hit the ground, and they rushed to the crash site.

Authorities identified the dead as Christina Collier, 18, Nicole Ford, 17, and Tanesha Hill, whose age was not immediately available.

The police chief said hospital personnel were able to speak with the driver.

Hours after the wreck, a damaged red compact car remained on the interstate near where the bus plunged over the side. But it was not immediately clear if it was the vehicle mentioned by the police chief.

One student told WHNT the accident seemed to happen in "slow motion." A car cut off the bus, and the driver tried to dodge, but hit the car anyway. For a moment, the bus hung on the railing before it fell.

The student was not injured, he told WHNT, "only by the grace of God. When I got off that bus, I got down and prayed because me and my two brothers made it off OK."

He and his brothers were three of about 10 passengers who were ambulatory, a fire and rescue spokesman said.

Parents at the scene told WHNT that their children called them from cell phones as soon as the bus hit the ground, and they rushed to the scene.

A bus company spokesman told WHNT that the driver survived the accident, but has not yet been able to tell what happened. The driver has been with the company for 3½ to 4 years, he said.

The accident occurred near several hospitals and the fire and rescue service station, so first responders were on the scene quickly.

CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports that only five states mandate safety belts be installed on new school buses. And none of the laws require students to buckle up.

Crash tests show that school buses react differently than a car during an accident. The government says the best protection is the padding on the back of bus seats, which creates a protective envelope called compartmentalization, Cowan reports.

"They actually tested lap belts, lap shoulder belts and other means of restraining passengers and still felt compartmentalization does the job," Charley Kinnington, of the National Association of Pupil Transportation, tells CBS News.

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[lngbchteresa]

My sympathy goes out to the familes it is a tragedy. I have been a schoolbus driver for 18 years and I have had one accident that was the fault of a 16 year old girl, luckily no one was hurt. When there is an accident everyone always blames the driver we just have to be the reason that it happened. No one knows what we have to deal with when we are driving. I drive these kids as if they were my own I wouldn't have it no other way. People are quick to judge us and blame us but do we ever get a thank you when the children are safe. It is a two way street out here and drivers have a lot more to deal with than you think. You should put yourself in our seats once in awhile and think about that instead of blaming us first look at the big picture like we have to do.

[justonce99]

I graduated from this school (Lee) last year in 2005. Just as an FYI to CBS if they're paying attention to these notes, a correction should be made to Photo 3 of the photo essay. Lawanda Jefferson was on the bus, but the picture is of Rayshun Fletcher. I do not know Lawanda, but I went to school with Rayshun a few years back. I could clearly see that's Rayshun and not Lawanda.

I felt that was an important update to be made, seeing that some people might confuse the two because of the typographical error.

[canadu-2009]

lhs6...what a tremendous loss for one so young. I am SO sorry that your friends are gone. I hope you can find the strength to move forward. Remember the good times, the laughter, the innocence. My thoughts will be with you.

[reginaregina]

Apparently, less than 10 people per year are killed as passengers of school buses that crash.

I would have thought that seat belts would be needed, too....but after further research review, have concluded the same thing others have: that they would actually be of little benefit, or could make rescuing passengers even more difficult in the event of fire, etc.

Seat belts in cars are used for purposes that are not really an issue in buses...to prevent ejection, hitting the windshield, etc. The rollover video is upsetting, to be sure....but if there are less than 10 fatalities per year, it sounds like an exceedingly safe method of transport to me. I'm betting that number would go UP if seat belts were used.

[kcomets10]

How do you miss something that big and yellow. Everyone knows what it carries. I'm a bus driver. When ever there is a bus accident why is it always the fault of the driver, bus company, or school? On this accident lets put the blame on the driver that cut/hit the bus or maybe if the guard rails had been taller or stronger this may not have happened. PARENTS AND OTHER DRIVERS SEEM TO FORGET THAT WE ARE CARRYING SOMETHING VALUABLE. So next time don't pull out in front a bus, run through the stop arm.

[newshound05]

Watch the video on this page, then decide if seat belts aren't needed. WOW!

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/category.asp?C=85977

[brett504-2009]

I think all school buses should have seat belts they save lives. And although a pludge like that would have hurt some of them, seat belts just might have saved the girls lives to.

[mjv2944]

We put our children in a piece of junk called a school bus every day, we should be ashamed. Some where, someone has got to have an idea to make these buses safe, and we have to quit looking at the price tag. We cannot put a price tag on our children. NASCAR drivers wouldn't make a single lap with out being belted in and they drive the safest vehichles made.

[claniel20]

The Nation and World need to institute higher standards for School Bus Safety. It is a tragedy that those three innoncent young ladies died. In order to help prevent another loss(s); we as a nation need to do everything immaginable to acknowledge our country at home.

I am a student at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and I never felt safe on a school bus as a child.

[burke1242]

What about the school bus that rolled over? Would the compartmentalization protect them? NO! Would it protect the kids from a side collision? NO! Would it protect them from a rear end collision? NO! Kinnington is an idiot. Probably got
paid off to endose it. Seat belts or air bags would say lifes.
Why do you think the cops tell us to buckle up? What was the school bus driver afraid of? A school bus against a subcompact?
I pick the school bus and he should have put on his brakes or
pushed it off of the road. What an idiot. Probably on drugs or drunk. Because of Kinnington, those children are DEAD!! Does he insist his kids use seat belts or depend on the back of a seat
to save their lifes? He should be fired for negligence.


"They actually tested lap belts, lap shoulder belts and other means of restraining passengers and still felt compartmentalization does the job," Charley Kinnington, of the National Association of Pupil Transportation, tells CBS News.

[reddawg8671]

My condolences to the families of all the children that were either hurt, or that lost their lives in this terrible accident. Secondly, in response to the lady that said if these kids were christians....... it doesn't matter what religion they are almost every religion in the world believes in a god. It is just that they all have different names for God. Thirdly, on the issue of seatbelts in a schoolbus. I was in a school bus accident while i was in 6th grade in the late fall of 1982. I was the oldest on the full bus of 66 kids that just broadsided by a tractor trailor that ran a red light on a business loop of an inter state. If we would have been wearing seat belts we would have been hurt seriously instead of a few minor injuries. I believe that we all had guardian angels that day looking out for us. So please drop the subject. I believe that if there were seat belts used in this accident more kids would have died from internal injuries than did die. Also lastly may God welcome the kids into heaven with open arms nomatter what religion that they follow.

[reginaregina]

lhs6,

I know it can't help ease the pain, but I extend to you my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your friends today. Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

[reginaregina]

There were 43 (not 34) people on board, including the driver. 41 were transported to the hospital.
3 died. The car involved was driven by another student from the same high school, and contained a passenger....yet another student. It is reported by someone close to them that a tire blew, which is what caused the car's driver to lose control. That has not been confirmed yet, however.

I live here. Our entire community (which includes all of North Alabama and Southern Tennessee) is in mourning.

[snfan]

chers68, seatbelts ARE lifesaving, and should be enforced more often. I can say from personal experience, that if it weren't for wearing a seatbelt, I would be dead. Are you saying that you want to be able to opt OUT of seatbelts, and opt IN for your child's death? Wow. I totally see the logic now. Keep on being responsible like that. You'll go far. (oh, and quit typing in all caps, doesn't make you look smarter.)

[lhs6]

it wasnt a guard rail it was a concrete barrier ther was no guard rail. and what seems to be what caused the bus to fall over the barrier is that when it hit the concrete barrier the concrete broke off and the buss leaned nose tward the ground off the highway then it tetter and tottered intill it fell shortly after

[TeLand]

Since when do guard rails not guard against a vehicle going over the side? I thought that is what they were for. Do I understand this correctly that guard rails are just there for decoration and not to protect us from something such as this? This is about as dumb as school buses not having seatbelts....

[lhs6]

HIGH SCHOOL in Huntsville,Alabama.Today 3 of my good friends died in the crash. I will miss all three girls very much and i just want to send a prayer out to all of the parents,students,bus driver,and any others that were envolved in the lee high bus crash today.You are in my prayers

[stacy410a]

ncolsens, I agree with you they should not have put it on there to begin with. but it has not been removed