Emergency responders rushed to the scene of a school bus crash in Montgomery, West Virginia on Wednesday. According to witnesses, the accident took place when the driver of the bus ran off the road and struck the mountainside.
At the time of the accident the school bus was carrying over a dozen middle and high school students home from local area schools. Benny Filiaggi, Montgomery Deputy Fire Chief, indicated that all fifteen of the students were “walking wounded” and had only suffered bumps and bruises, but were taken to two local hospital – Montgomery General Hospital and Charleston Area Medical Center – as a precautionary measure. He emphasized that nobody appeared to have been seriously injured. “All were stable, all were walking, all precautionary. It was basically a minor incident. The bus did go off the road a bit.”
The accident took place on local Route 61, which passes by the campus of West Virginia University Tech. After the students were examined by emergency personnel they were released into the hands of their worried parents.
The news about the accident first came in to the Fayette County 911 office at about 3:00 p.m., and indicated that the driver had struck a telephone pole. The school bus suffered significant damage in the incident, but fortunately there were no other vehicles involved.
According to Gary Hough, the Director of Transportation and School Services for Fayette County, the driver will be required to submit to a variety of tests, including testing for drugs and alcohol, during the course of the investigation into the accident’s cause. School district protocol demands the testing, and also indicates that should any school bus driver ever be found to be driving a bus while under the influence, they would be immediately dismissed from their job.
Hough did not provide the name of the driver who was involved, but did indicate that the investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing. “All we know is that the bus apparently got off on the edge of the road … and got caught in a ditch. At this point, we’re more concerned about student safety. The main thing is safety and to make sure we keep kids safe. That’s our priority.”
Parents arrived on the scene shortly after the accident to pick up their children.