Salem, MA : Six children injured in school bus crash in North Salem on Thursday afternoon, May 5, 2016

Six children were injured when a car struck a bus carrying kids from Nathaniel Bowditch Elementary School Thursday afternoon in North Salem.

The driver of the vehicle, a Beverly man, was also injured and taken to Salem Hospital. He has been issued a civil citation for driving at a speed greater than reasonable, according to Salem Police Lt. Matthew Desmond.

The bus was driving north on North Street and turning left onto Mason Street, around 3:43 p.m., when a car heading south on North Street clipped the corner of the bus in the intersection, according to Fire Deputy Chief Gerry Giunta.

The six kids, all with minor injuries, were taken to North Shore Children’s Hospital (at Salem Hospital), according to Giunta. Some were taken as a precaution, which included the use of neck braces and back boards to stabilize them.

There were 31 kids on the bus at the time, according to Kelley Rice, the school district’s communications chief.

The district is “grateful the accident wasn’t worse,” Rice said. “The safety and well-being of kids in our care is the number one priority of the school system.”

That’s especially the case given the nature of school buses, and what happens on them in the event of a crash.

“The thing with school buses is there are no seat belts in them, so kids tend to get thrown if the bus is struck,” Giunta said. “Some were complaining of minor injuries to their elbows and stuff as they put them up to defend themselves.”

Damage to the bus was incredibly minor. The right corner of the vehicle’s rear bumper was scraped, and the metal panel immediately in front of it on the right side was pushed in a few inches where the car impacted the bus.

Initial scanner reports described the accident as a “mass casualty incident.” That was because of the nature of the crash, according to Giunta.

He said it was initially reported as a motor vehicle accident and when firefighters arrived, they classified it as a mass casualty incident because there were 31 children on the bus.

Rice noted that parents also received robo calls from the school district shortly after the crash to apprise them of the situation. She said after EMTs cleared the remaining 25 students for any injuries, the children were escorted to nearby buses for rides to their usual stops and some were released to parents who showed up at the scene.

Edwin Guerrero was among the adults who rushed to the scene after hearing about the crash from his father. His nine-year-old sister, a student at the Bowditch, was on board at the time, Guerrero said.

“I was worried because I thought something happened to her,” he said, but explained that she did walk off the bus unharmed. “She was crying, didn’t say anything. She was scared.”

There were no plans to have counselors on hand to meet with students at the school the next day, according to Rice.

“We don’t think there was a lot of trauma,” she said. “In this case, we’re very grateful it wasn’t a very serious accident.”

Source :
6 children injured in school bus crash