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Texas: School bus collides with cement truck, killing 2

March 23, 2024

A cement truck swerved into a school bus carrying over 40 pre-kindergarten students without seatbelts, authorities said. A boy on the bus and a man in another vehicle died.

https://p.dw.com/p/4e32c
People in yellow vests carry the children away from the bus
The children were not wearing seatbelts as the bus didn't have anyImage: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP/picture alliance

A cement truck collided with a school bus in the outskirts of Austin, Texas, on Friday, killing a young boy and a man, local authorities said. 

The pre-kindergarten students from Tom Green Elementary were on their way back from a field trip to a zoo in Texas when the crash occurred in rural Bastrop County. 

The bus was carrying 44 students and 11 adults, said the Hays Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) which Tom Green Elementary belongs to.

Who were the victims of the crash?

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, and his identity was kept anonymous.

The man who was killed in the accident was in a vehicle that either ran into the back of the bus or part of the cement truck, Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Deon Cockrell said.

The school district superintendent Eric Wright called the child "a precious young boy" and said that 51 others were injured during the accident.

First responders work the scene after the collision in Texas, March 22
The bus's roof was crumpled after the collisionImage: KVUE/AP/picture alliance

Four individuals in critical condition were airlifted from the scene of the crash, while six others with potentially severe injuries were taken by ambulance, said the division chief of Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Kevin Parker.

According to Parker, an ambulance bus carried 10 other patients with minor injuries to a children's hospital.

How did the accident occur?

At around 2 pm (9 p.m. CET), the concrete truck, traveling in the opposite direction, veered into the lane of the bus, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Deon Cockrell.

He said that initial reports suggested the truck collided head-on with the bus, causing it to overturn.

Information on the speed of the vehicles is yet unknown, but the truck driver was cooperating with authorities, said Cockrell.

Officials look at the school bus, March 22
It's unclear whether the driver of the cement truck which crashed into the bus will be charged over the crashImage: Jay Janner/American-Statesman/USA TODAY NETWORK/REUTERS

The bus did not have seatbelts due to it being a 2011 model, Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. Newer buses since 2017 have been equipped with seat belts. 

All children were reunited with their families by the evening, according to Wright.

Texas governor urges prayers after tragedy  

Texas Governor Greg Abbott called on Texans to pray for the students and their families in a statement on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. He also thanked the first responders and the law enforcement officers.

“Our prayers are with the families and the students of Tom Green Elementary,” said Abbott in the post.

"In this terrible moment, our community must come together to support those who've lost loved ones and those who are recovering," Erin Zwiener, a lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives, wrote in a post on Facebook.

as/wd (AP, Reuters)