A Dunklin R-5 School District school bus was involved in a crash at about 11:15 a.m. today, Nov. 6.
Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the bus was travelling northeast on Hwy. Z near Jarvis Road when one of the bus tires came too close to the edge of the road while negotiating a curve and was pulled off the road into the ditch.
“The vehicle was going around a curve and dropped off the right side of the roadway just a little bit, got sucked into the ditch, then struck the ditch line and came to stop,” Thompson said.
He said fire and emergency medical services responded to the scene. He said EMS checked all passengers for injuries and two students were transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. He said if the students did sustain any injuries, those would have been minor.
Matt Lichtenstein, communications director for the Dunklin R-5 School District, said the district takes student safety seriously.
“The safety of our students remains our top priority,” he said. “We’re hopeful that the injuries to our students will be minor in nature and that they can quickly return to their normal activities.”
Lichtenstein said the uninjured students returned to class after arriving back at school.
He said students were part of the Area Technical School (ATS) program at Jefferson College who were being transported from the college back to the Herculaneum High School.
Lichtenstein said the bus driver was checked at the scene and did not appear to have any injuries. He said the driver was sent to have a drug test as part of the district’s standard procedure. He said administrators will review any traffic violations and review the police report before deciding if the bus driver can continue as a driver in the Dunklin R-5 School District.
Lichtenstein said the bus was towed from the scene and the district would not know the extent of the damage to the bus until their mechanic could inspect it.