15 students, 2 drivers injured after school bus, dump truck crash in North Carolina
At least 15 students and two drivers were injured in a collision Wednesday morning between a school bus, dump truck and another vehicle in North Carolina.
All but one of the students on the bus headed to South Mecklenburg High, about 15 miles south of Charlotte, were taken to the hospital, according to spokespeople from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency.
The children's injuries were not life-threatening, the emergency services agency said on Twitter.
Both the dump truck and bus drivers have serious injuries, a spokesperson for emergency services said.
Both drivers were pinned in their vehicles but were conscious and stable, Charlotte Fire Department Captain Dennis Gist told Paste BN. It took firefighters about an hour to free them.
The third driver was not taken to the hospital.
Images from the wreck showed extensive damage to all three vehicles. It is unclear what caused the crash, which occurred about 2 miles from the school.
“The problem we encountered was the high impact to both the (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools) bus and the dump truck,” Charlotte Fire battalion Chief Michael Gerin told reporters at the scene, according to the Charlotte Observer. "We encountered some problems just in the shear nature of the force, and the amount of metal that was around the driver(s)."
Gerin said rescue workers were "extremely fortunate" to get both drivers out successfully, the Observer reported.
Contact Breaking News Reporter N'dea Yancey-Bragg at nyanceybra@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @NdeaYanceyBragg