1 Child and 1 Adult Dead After School Bus Full of Pre-K Kids Hit by a Truck: ‘Horrible and Tragic Day’
The Hays Consolidated Independent School District confirmed that one of its pre-school kids, described as "a precious young boy," died in the incident
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A child and an adult are dead, and dozens of others are injured, after a concrete truck crashed into a bus full of students returning from a field trip in Texas, according to authorities.
The Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services announced in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that emergency crews responded to reports of a “bus rollover” on State Highway 21 in Bastrop County, Texas, which is located about 35 miles southeast of Austin, on Friday.
The EMS shared in an update that it had evaluated 53 patients total, including the two who were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities have not been shared.
51 others were injured in the crash, the EMS said, with four transported to the hospital in critical condition and six transported in “potentially serious” condition. The rest were treated for minor injuries and were taken to a reunification center to be reunited with their families, per the group.
FINAL Mutual Aid Bastrop County 2751 W SH 21: 53 patients evaluated: 2 deceased (1 adult, 1 pedi), 4 critical, 6 potentially serious, remainder minor injuries that were either transported or taken to reunification center.
~9 EMS agencies were involved w/mult fire & law agencies— ATCEMS (@ATCEMS) March 22, 2024
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The Hays Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) said in a press release that the incident involved one of its school buses carrying Tom Green Elementary pre-Kindergarten students, who had been returning from a field trip to the Bastrop Zoo. The release said the bus had been carrying 44 students and 11 adults.
In an updated release, the school district’s Superintendent of Schools Eric Wright said they were informed by authorities that the incident occurred when a “concrete truck veered into the bus’s lane and hit it head-on, causing the bus to roll over.”
He shared that he was “heartbroken” by the news that one of its pre-K students, a “precious young boy,” had been killed, along with a person who had been “driving a car that was on the road behind our bus.”
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“There are no words that can express my sorrow for the student’s family, the Tom Green Elementary School family, and our greater Hays CISD community,” Wright wrote in the release.
“This is a horrible and tragic day for our school district,” he continued. “We continue to pray for everyone affected, those still in the hospital, and their loved ones.”
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CISD said in its release that “transportation staff, counselors, safety and security personnel, and other administrators” had either joined first responders to help at the scene of the accident or at the reunification location after the incident was reported.
“I wish I could end this correspondence by saying that everything will be alright,” Wright added in his statement. “For most of us, it eventually will. But, there are grieving families tonight who will never know life again as it was before. Let us continue to focus on them in our hearts and in our prayers.”
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