2 students dead and at least 7 others injured in Tennessee school bus crash

An undated stock photo of police cruiser lights (pixabay/Pexels)

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Two students were killed and at least seven other people were injured Friday in a school bus crash in west Tennessee, officials said.

The crash involving a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck, a Chevrolet Trailblazer and the school bus took place at about noon on Highway 70 in Carroll County, said Maj. Travis Plotzer, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Plotzer said details of the crash were still being sorted out, but it appeared that the transportation department dump truck did not contribute to the crash itself.

Plotzer said there were a total of 25 students and five adults on the bus. The school bus was carrying students and employees from Kenwood Middle School in Clarksville for a field trip to Jackson, Tennessee, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System said in a statement. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Plotzer announced the deaths of two students in the crash during a news conference. Officials said at least seven other people were taken by air ambulance to hospitals in Tennessee. The nature of their injures was not immediately disclosed.

Plotzer called the crash “a parent’s worst nightmare.”

Four people were taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville and were in stable condition Friday, according to a Vanderbilt Health spokesperson.

Another 19 people were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Carroll County, said Kim Alexander, a spokesperson for Baptist Memorial Health Care. All were evaluated and released, though it was unclear how many actually suffered injuries, she said.

The Associated Press