Train Hits School Bus Near Chicago; 5 Killed, 28 Injured : Accident: Vehicle, stopped on rail crossing, is torn apart by 50-m.p.h. crash. Witnesses say terrified students inside scrambled to avoid impact.

A morning rush-hour commuter train struck a school bus stopped on a suburban railway crossing Wednesday, killing five high school students and injuring 28 others.

The violent impact of the 50-m.p.h. train wrenched the bus off its wheels, turning its crushed upper hulk 180 degrees before it came to rest next to the tracks. Inside, students who had clambered to the front of the bus to escape were tossed about like dolls.

“You could see the terror in their eyes,” said witness Coreen Bachinsky. “You could hear the metal, the glass flying, the screams. It was very, very scary.”

The crash site in suburban Fox River Grove, 37 miles northwest of Chicago, became an outdoor emergency room as paramedics, fire personnel and volunteers struggled to remove screaming youths and carry them to waiting ambulances.

Four students were pronounced dead at the scene, McHenry County coroner’s officials said. A fifth victim died at Good Shepherd Hospital in nearby Barrington. The names of those killed were withheld pending notification of relatives, but authorities said the dead included four teen-age boys and one girl.

The injured, including at least four listed in serious or critical condition, were taken to seven hospitals. One student, suffering neurological damage, was airlifted by helicopter to Loyola Medical Center in downtown Chicago.

A team of National Transportation Safety Board investigators joined local law enforcement officials late in the day to assess the cause of the crash. Witnesses and survivors said the bus stopped with its rear half protruding onto the track, halted by a red traffic light ahead and by cars stopped in front of it. Illinois law advises bus drivers not to cross rail lines unless the vehicle is able to clear the tracks.

McHenry County authorities said the crash occurred about 7:10 a.m. as the bus was ferrying students to Cary-Grove High School in neighboring Cary.

Students on the bus said it was already sitting on the tracks when the crossing barrier came down, red lights began to flash and alarm bells rang.

At first, students joked about the possibility of a crash, but when one student ran forward, screaming that a train was approaching, the others followed.

“They all ran for the front of the bus to get out of the way,” said Taben Johnson, a 15-year-old sophomore who sat at the front of the bus and suffered only a cut leg.

Another student, Teresa Robinson, said the seconds before the impact were “like a dream. We couldn’t believe it was happening.” She and her younger brother, Jason, were treated and released from a hospital for leg and neck injuries and cuts.

Outside the bus, motorists looked on in horror, screaming at the bus driver to move on as the Metra commuter train approached, its warning horn blaring.

Parked near the crossing, Jim Homola, a carpenter driving his children to school, said he yelled “Go! Go!” But the bus did not budge.

“It was over in a matter of seconds,” Homola said. He ran to the bus and helped several students out of the crushed yellow vehicle. He also helped the driver, a woman who seemed in a daze. When she saw the damage in the rear of the train and the bodies of several students, Homola said, the driver broke down, screaming and weeping.

Investigators said it was too early to assess blame for the crash. Some survivors were less restrained.

“It was her fault for everything,” Teresa Robinson said of the driver. “She should have taken precautions.”

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Metra spokesman Chris Knapton said the crossing was guarded by a gate, bells, flashing lights and signs but there was little space between the stoplight and the tracks. Metra operates Chicago’s suburban commuter trains.

The train was moving about 50 m.p.h., well under the speed limit for that stretch of track. The engineer applied his brakes but was unable to stop in time, Knapton said.

The name of the bus driver, a 54-year-old woman, was not released. State officials said she had been permitted to drive school buses since 1987 and had never had a ticket or accident before.

She was taken to a hospital for evaluation, authorities said. School officials said the bus can carry about 70 passengers but an unofficial count had only 33 aboard when the crash occurred.

Cary-Grove High School, which has an enrollment of about 1,400, did not cancel classes but allowed students to leave with their parents if they wished. Some left sobbing.