Kansas School Bus Crash Injures 16 Students

Fourth-grade students at Sunflower Elementary School in Andover were supposed to enjoy a carefree day Wednesday during a field trip to the Kauffman Museum in North Newton.

Their day took a jolting turn about 9:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes of I-135 in Wichita when a full-sized school bus slammed into the back of another, injuring 16 of the 61 students on board.

"No broken bones; everybody had something that hurt," said Roz Hutchinson, a spokeswoman for Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus, where the children were treated. "Everything proved to be minor scrapes, bruises and sprains."

The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating the accident.

Andover school officials said the buses left the school about 9 a.m. and set out on an annual trip to the museum, which specializes in the history and culture of the central Plains.

The buses -- the first carrying the boys and the second carrying the girls -- were about 15 miles into the trip when they merged from K-96 onto the northbound lanes of I-135.

Highway Patrol Lt. Roger Baughman said the buses were in the center lane about 9:30 a.m. when a white van or sport-utility vehicle swerved from the right lane into the center lane, forcing the driver of the first bus to suddenly hit the brakes.

The second bus slammed into the back of the first, causing many of the occupants of the second bus to fly forward in their seats.

"It's like a semi-truck," Baughman said. "You can't stop them on a dime."

Deanna Deutscher, a fourth-grade teacher who was on the first bus, said she and the boys were talking when the bus came to an abrupt halt. Luckily for them, Deutscher said, bus drivers reviewed emergency evacuation plans with students a week or two ago.

"The kids did a great job, really, when it counted," Deutscher said. "They did what they were asked to do, and they were prepared."

Among those on the second bus was 10-year-old Maddy Irvine, who told her mother, Bonnie Hull, that the students had no warning before the impact.

"She bumped her face on the seat in front of her," Hull said. "I think that's what happened to a lot of children."

The riders on the second bus also evacuated through the rear emergency exit.

Terry Ziegler, an interpreter for the deaf for Andover schools, was following the second bus as part of a small caravan when the accident occurred.

"We just got the girls off the bus as quickly as we could," she said. "We quickly separated the injured from the non-injured."

Ziegler said many of the motorists who witnessed the crash stopped to help.

"Even if they weren't helping the injured, they were comforting the kids," she said.

Baughman said most of the injuries occurred on the second bus.

"All the girls on one bus were crying; all the boys on the other bus were excited," he said. "The girls, seeing their friends hurt, that was probably the most traumatic thing."

Baughman said the injuries mainly were "cuts to lips and bruises."

Two replacement buses were sent to the scene, and students returned to school about 11:25 a.m.

Brenna Gerstner was waiting at the school to pick up her niece, Caitlyn Gerstner.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to go home after this," Gerstner said.

As the buses pulled in, many of the students acted as if they had returned from an adventure.

"We're going to be on TV!" shouted one boy as he named the radio and TV stations that had arrived at the school.

"Well, they are 10-year-old boys," said Deutscher, the teacher.

Inside the school, food and beverages were waiting for parents, and counselors were made available.

"When you're in an accident, it is a little bit scary, especially for a 10-year-old," Sunflower principal Marilyn Herr said.

Back safely at home, Hull said her daughter was recovering from her injury.

"She'll probably milk this for a couple days," she said. "You know -- ice cream and the shaved-ice stand. But she's fine."