Two people were killed and as many as 50 injured Thursday in a wreck involving two school buses, a semi and an SUV about 40 miles outside of St. Louis, Missouri, authorities said.
Jorma Duran, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said the wreck happened between 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. at mile marker 250 of Interstate 44.
CNN affiliate KTVI reported the two school buses involved in the crash were carrying high school band students from the St. James (Missouri) School District who were on their way to a Six Flags amusement park in Eureka.
Thirty-six of the children who had been on the buses were transported to the SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, a spokeswoman for that facility said.
Four others were taken to St. John’s Mercy Medical Hospital in Washington, Missouri, and five were transported to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, a spokesman for both hospitals said. Four of the children at St. John’s Mercy were treated and released, the spokesman said, and the other was transferred to St. John’s Children’s Hospital.
One other child had been taken to the children’s hospital earlier in the day, spokeswoman Jackie Ferman said.
Duran said the crash closed about 4 miles of the eastbound side of the interstate.
Video from the scene showed a school bus resting atop the back end of a tractor trailer and another school bus nearby. Since then, video showed a crane removing one of the buses from the tangled wreck.
