CALHOUN CITY, Miss. --
Three people were killed Tuesday when an 18-wheeler collided head-on with a Choctaw County school bus.
The crash happened at about 2 p.m. on Highway 8 at Highway 9 between Grenada and Calhoun City, officials said.
Forty to 50 students were treated at the scene, Calhoun City officials said. Choctaw County School officials said seven students were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Two of those killed were the bus driver and a school teacher, school officials said. The driver of the 18-wheeler was also killed, officials said.
There were several adults on the bus along with a group of about 30 seniors from Ackerman High School, school officials said. The students had been in Oxford for an event at Ole Miss.
"It was a very intense scene as you can imagine with that kind of a wreck," said Calhoun County Journal reporter Joel McNeece. "Debris was scattered throughout the highway. The bus was actually draped over a guardrail of the bridge over the Y'allabusha River, just south of Calhoun City. We had fire departments from all over Calhoun County and ambulances from the three county area responding to try and treat this large number of patients."
McNeece said the Calhoun City Fire Department declared it a county-wide disaster. A triage unit was set up at the fire station and area doctors and nurses responded to treat the patients, he said.
Copyright 2011 by WAPT.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
