At Least 2 Dead After School Bus Collides With Dump Truck on Highway

Teacher, student reported to be dead in horrific crash
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 17, 2018 11:19 AM CDT
Updated May 17, 2018 6:00 PM CDT
School Bus Collides With Dump Truck on Highway
Emergency personnel examine a school bus after it collided with a dump truck.   (Bob Karp/The Daily Record via AP)

A school bus taking children on a field trip to a New Jersey historic site collided with a dump truck Thursday, ripping the bus apart, knocking it on its side, killing two people and injuring more than 40 others. The two dead are a teacher and a student, the AP reports. The front end of the school bus appeared to be ripped off as it sat on the median of Interstate 80 in Mount Olive. It was also sheared off its undercarriage, and a piece of the front end of the bus with the steering wheel visible was lying on top of the guardrail separating the highway from the median. "Our hearts are broken by today's tragedy," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a tweet.

Paramus Public Schools said the bus was taking students from East Brook Middle School to Waterloo Village, which is about five miles from the crash scene, the Bergen Record reports. Students on two other buses on the field trip returned to the school Thursday morning and were reunited with their parents, said Paramus police Commissioner Holly Tedesco. A red dump truck with a mangled front end was parked along the highway near the scene of the crash. It was registered to Mendez Trucking of Belleville. Police have not speculated about what caused the crash, but federal safety data shows the trucking company has a string of crashes in its past and a higher than average rate of violations. The driver of the truck was hospitalized, but authorities have not released his condition. (More school bus stories.)

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