U.S. & World

Report: 4 Dead In Minnesota School Bus Crash

COTTONWOOD, Minn. (CBS) ― A school bus and two other vehicles crashed in southwestern Minnesota on Tuesday, killing at least four students, and leaving 14 injured, authorities said.

Minnesota State Patrol Lieutenant Mark Peterson said the students died when their Lakeview School bus was hit by a van Tuesday afternoon on a highway near Cottonwood, about 2 hours southwest of Minneapolis.

According to Peterson, 28 students from Lakeview Schools were on the bus at about 3:25 p.m. when it crashed.

He said the bus was traveling south on Highway 23 and was struck by a van heading on Highway 24. The bus tipped on its side onto a pickup truck, according to the patrol.

The conditions of the drivers of the van and the truck are not known at this time.
The victims weren't immediately identified, and their ages weren't immediately given. At least 14 people were hurt. Eleven students were treated at a hospital in Marshall, and two more in nearby Granite Falls.

The crash rocked Cottonwood, a small town of a little more than 1,000 people, and the surrounding area. About 40 people attended an evening press briefing at Swan Lake Lutheran Church.

When Fire Chief Dale Louwagie was asked what the community could do, he said simply, "Pray."

Classes were canceled Wednesday at Lakeview, a small school of about 585 students that serves Cottonwood and Wood Lake, and plans were made to have grief counselors and clergy available to students, Superintendent Sheldon Johnson said.

The bus was on its regular route, carrying children from kindergarten through 12th grade. Initial reports said the bus was carrying 40 people, but it actually carried 28 students and a driver, Minnesota Public Safety spokeswoman Christine Krueger said.

Rescue squads and ambulances from nearly every city in Lyon County, Wood Lake and Granite Falls in Yellow Medicine County and Redwood Falls were called to the crash site.

Deann Holland, a spokeswoman at Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center said of the 11 victims transported to that hospital, two were in critical condition while one had already been treated and released. Others were being treated for back and neck injuries, lacerations, bumps and bruises, she said.

One patient came in by private vehicle, two by helicopter and the rest by ambulances. The hospital set up an emergency response to prepare for the accident victims.

Holland said the ages of the victims they received ranged from 11 to 52 years old.

Two of the victims were taken by ambulance to Granite Falls Hospital, which is about 15 miles north of the accident scene. Hospital CEO George Gerlach said one was 11 years old and the other 14.

"They were treated and stabilized in our ER," Gerlach said. Neither had life-threatening injuries, but had fractures that required a higher level of care than could be provided in Granite Falls, he said.

They were being taken, one by helicopter and the other by ambulance, to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., to undergo orthopedic surgery, Gerlach said.

The Marshall Independent newspaper reported that the first motorists on the scene were asked to take some children to the hospital.

"I parked my car and called 911, and ran to the school bus and the driver was handing kids out the door as fast as I could take them," Karen Mahlum told the newspaper.

Other motorists also stopped and took kids from the driver.

"You just wanted to make sure it was safe," she said. "They were screaming and screaming on the bus. There were so many kids."

Pictures from the scene showed the school bus lying on its side on the hood and cab of a pickup truck.

Courtney Voorhees works in sales and advertising for the Tri-County News.

"I grabbed my camera," she told CBS station WCCO-TV in Minneapolis. "I could see traffic backed up and see lights, but I didn't know what was going on. I could just see people running around. I saw a lot of firemen."

Voorhees said the children from the bus looked like they were in their early teens. The Independent reported that the first motorists on the scene were asked to take some children on the bus to the hospital themselves.

"The bus driver was actually taking kids and handing them to people on the road," said Marshall Independent reporter Rae Kruger, who was on the scene. "A lot of them looked scared. Some had a few cuts and things, but scared and crying… the ones that I can see."

Gov. Tim Pawlenty issued a statement calling it "a sad night for Minnesota."

"It is especially heartbreaking when young lives are lost," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who were killed or injured in this tragic accident."

Krueger said accident reconstruction teams would work the crash site Wednesday, and a 1 p.m. news briefing was scheduled.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)