A driver was killed in a crash involving a car and a school bus was just outside Manhattan, Illinois, southwest of Chicago on Thursday morning.

The school bus driver and the students on board were taken to the hospital to be checkedout.

The head-on crash happened on Manhattan-Monee Road, just west of Schoolhouse Road and just east of the Village of Manhattan, a town of just over 10,000 people named for the New York City borough.

The driver of the car was killed, state police said. The school bus driver and the 10 students on board were taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox to be medically evaluated, state police said.

All eastbound and westbound lanes of Manhattan-Monee Road were shut down at the scene.

A parent, Donna Hyland, said her 9-year-old daughter, Sophie, is a third grader at Anna McDonald School in Manhattan, Illinois, and was one of the youngsters on the school bus. Hyland said she found out about what happened Thursday morning from a text message from the school.

The text message said the school bus had slid into a ditch, Hyland said.

"A few minutes after that, I had gotten a phone call from one of the other school principals that had to be driving by and went on the bus with Sophie, because Sophie was really shaken up and crying, so trying to calm her down," Hyland said," and then they explained that the kids would be going to Silver Cross as a precaution."

Hyland said she was able to talk to her daughter on the phone.

"Sophie was really worked up on the bus after the incident, so one of the people that work at the school district happened to be there, and had her call to talk to me to calm down and things like that," said Hyland.

Hyland said it was a moment when her heart just sank when she received the text message, not knowing at first whether her daughter was safe.

"My other two daughters were involved in a car accident in the summer — a rollover car accident, which was quite severe — and you know, your heart stops regardless, but it's just flashbacks," Hyland said. "I mean, you send them to school to be safe, and you want them to be safe. You want them to come home and just have a normal life as a kid, and this is — she'll be OK, and that's the main thing, but she's shaken up, and we have to have that conversation with her now about exactly what happened."

Hyland said she was grateful to be able to speak to her daughter, and then come to the hospital for a reunion.

All the kids and their parents were taken to one room at the hospital to meet up with one another, according to Hyland, who added that as far as she knew, all the kids were physically OK after the very scary and deadly crash.

Hyland said the hospital staff gave the kids stuffed animals to comfort them before the parents arrived.

"Other parents were worked up. There was, you know, some tears — you know, tears of relief, and then tears of fear," Hyland said. "But the main thing is that they're OK."

The mayor of Manhattan released a statement after the crash, writing in part, "These recent fatal crashes have occurred on roads maintained by the State of Illinois through IDOT, and the Village has consistently pressed the state to address residents' safety concerns, including meeting directly with state officials and IDOT on November 25, 2025. Following that meeting, traffic safety changes were implemented on state-maintained roads, and we will continue advocating for additional improvements to help prevent future tragedies."