School Van Crash In Exeter Township

Three students were hurt Tuesday morning when their van skidded out of control on an ice-covered road in Luzerne County.

It happened around 7:45 a.m. on Route 92 in Exeter Township.

The van carried five students headed to Montgomery Avenue Elementary School, in the Wyoming Area school district.
The superintendent says the van skidded on some ice. The driver lost control. The van ran off the road between West Pittston and Falls, and hit two vehicles in a parking area.

Kim Powers’ 9-year-old daughter Mackenzie was on board.

“I’m a firefighter with Mount Zion, so they actually came up to the house and told me that my daughter had been in the accident, and I needed to come down,” Powers said.

When she got there, she found her daughter in the van complaining of neck pain.
Powers feels that her daughter calmly made it through the experience because she’s used to being around first responders. Mom felt those same emotions.

“We’re family, so when I know that my own team is on the scene, they’re in the best of care and I know that.”

Powers’ daughter and another student were taken to a hospital to be checked out.
First responders say what happened is only part of the story. Two more crashes happened on Route 92, both caused by an ice-covered roadway.

Police, firefighters, and ambulance personnel handled all three, but it was this one that caused the most fear, because children were involved.

“Thankfully, it’s OK. It looks like everything is OK,” said Wyoming Area Superintendent Ray Bernardi.
Bernardi, in his last week on the job before retirement, came to check on his students, and make sure parents had all the information they needed.