(The following story by Mandy Sheets of the Suburban Journals appeared on the St. Louis Post Dispatch website on May 17.)
ST. LOUIS — Counselors comforted students at Heritage Intermediate School on Friday, helping them deal with the aftermath of a crash that involved a bus full of the students and a train.
The fifth-graders at Heritage Intermediate visited the city of Hannibal on Thursday for an annual field trip, visiting Mark Twain Museum and caves.
As they were heading home at the end of the trip, the bus they were traveling in had to cross railroad tracks and make an immediate left-hand turn. The turn, however, was too sharp for the driver to make, and as the driver hesitated, a train made its way toward the bus. The incident is still under investigation by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, but Superintendent of Schools Tom Byrnes said reports indicate that the bus was backing up to try to make a three-point turn but a sightseeing trolley was blocking its way. The rear of the bus was still on the tracks when the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train started making its way toward the bus.
“The scene on the bus was pandemonium,” Byrnes said.
He said that students were reportedly screaming as they watched the train barreling toward the bus, but the bus driver was jammed into the space, unable to move. He said parent chaperones and teachers on the bus helped the students to move toward the front of the bus, but there was not ample time to evacuate the bus.
The train slowed slightly but still clipped the rear of the bus.
Norma Sudbrock, school/community relations coordinator for the district, said the accident happened at 1:17 p.m., and within 45 minutes, the parents of the 35 students on the bus had been contacted.
All the students were taken to Hannibal Regional Hospital and several suffered minor injuries. Of the 35 students on the bus, two were transported to the hospital in ambulances, and seven students were checked extensively for injuries. Doctors checked all the students, and released 34. As of noon Friday, one student still remained in the hospital for observation.
Byrnes said he is thankful that no one suffered more extensive injuries.
“We are very lucky to have no serious injuries from an accident like this,” Byrnes said.
The bus driver is on administrative leave and the Missouri United School Insurance Council, an insurance pool of many public school districts in the state, is investigating the accident. The driver was issued a ticket for failing to stop with sufficient space at a railroad crossing.
Byrnes said that the community of Hannibal was instrumental in helping in the time following the accident. He said that the superintendent of schools, transportation director and business manager of the Hannibal School District helped at the scene until officials from Wentzville could arrive. The transportation director for the district and principal of Heritage Intermediate drove to the scene in Hannibal.
The Hannibal School District also provided a bus for Heritage Intermediate’s students to ride back to school on. They arrived back at school about 6:20 p.m. Thursday.
Byrnes said that although students may be reluctant to ride a bus again after the accident, parents should feel confident that buses are a safe form of transportation. He said the seats on the bus were not moved, even after the train struck the bus. He also said that school bus drivers have extensive training before transporting students.
“In this incident, there were a lot of little things going wrong that led to an accident,” Byrnes said. “But the buses are safe.”