Federal Way, WA : One person injured after crash involving a school bus and four other vehicles on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 at Federal Way on Thursday morning, Sep 10, 2015

A crash involving a school bus and four other vehicles left one person with serious injuries and triggered lengthy traffic backups Thursday morning on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 at Federal Way, the Washington State Patrol reports.

No students were on the bus at the time of the crash.

Troopers and medics responded to the scene, near the South 272nd Street interchange, at about 7:50 a.m. after receiving reports of a bus crash.

Arriving at the scene, they found a school bus off the roadway, a heavily damaged BMW and three other vehicles with less damage. The driver of the BMW was seriously injured and taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Investigators later determined that the bus had been retired from school duties and is now only used to transport adults. The driver was the only one aboard at the time of the crash. She was shaken up but unhurt.

Three of the northbound lanes were blocked at the scene for about an hour after the crash. All lanes but one were later reopened, but lengthy backups remained for hours afterward.

A preliminary investigation found that the driver of the BMW attempted to move from the left lane to the HOV lane and struck the bus, sparking a chain reaction that drew in the other three vehicles.

The school bus driver said she had to fight to keep the bus from rolling over onto its side during the crash. She said her main goal was to keep the bus upright and prevent the accident from becoming a bigger catastrophe.

Source:

I-5 lanes reopen after school bus crash at Federal Way