2 Killed, 21 Hurt as Freight Train Hits School Bus

A freight train struck a school bus at an unguarded crossing today, killing two and injuring 21, authorities said. Frantic pupils at a nearby school, some with brothers and sisters aboard, had to be restrained from going to the site.

Bob Stier, transportation supervisor for the Alexandria public schools, said those killed were the bus driver and a student, one of about 25 on the bus.

“It is just horrendous,” said Sheila Olson, principal at the Miltona Science Magnet School, where the bus had just dropped off some students before heading for the high school in Alexandria, 10 miles to the south.

Seven of the injured were hospitalized in stable condition with fractures and internal injuries. Fourteen students were treated and released.

Olson said the accident scene was visible from the school and that teachers had to restrain some children from going to the site. Some of them were “very upset” because they had just gotten off the bus and some had siblings still aboard, she said.

The cause was not immediately known. “The front end of the bus got hit,” Stier said. “It was a flat-nosed bus and (the train) hit the side where the driver was. The bus got spun around, then the front end of the bus hit a light pole.”