Kids Killed In School Bus Crash
Two children died and three people were injured today when a school bus and a snow plow collided on an icy, rural county road, authorities said.
The accident occurred just before 8 a.m. about six miles north of the small ranching community of Albin, said Wyoming State Patrol Sgt. Perry Jones.
"It was nearly head on," Jones said.
The trooper did not know whether the icy, snowy conditions were a factor in the collision.
The bus apparently had just made its first stop of the day when it collided with the plow on a small bend in the highway, said Gary Robertson who went to the scene after hearing about the accident. The plow had struck the bus behind the driver's seat, spinning it around on impact and the plow rolled over into a ditch, he said.
"The ice was heavy enough on that particular stretch of highway you almost couldn't stand up straight on the road," Robertson said.
One child, a sixth-grade girl, was dead at the scene, and an 8-year-old boy was flown to the Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, Neb., about 35 miles northeast of Albin, where he died on the operating table, police said.
Dave Hall, a spokesman for the United Medical Center in Cheyenne, said the hospital had admitted two adults and one student.
The 18-year-old student and a 62-year-old driver of the snowplow were both being treated for minor injuries, Hall said. The bus driver, a 53-year-old man, was in serious condition with chest and abdominal injuries, he said.
Students at the Albin School were sent home at 11 a.m., Principal Vern Kennan said. About 120 students attend the K-12 school from Albin and the surrounding area.
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