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SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2006
High
School Bus Crashes in Georgia ST. MARYS, Ga. (AP) — A bus carrying high school band members flipped onto its side on Interstate 95 on Friday, injuring 24 people, two critically. The band from Massey Hill Classical High School in Fayetteville, N.C., was heading to a competition in Orlando, Fla. The bus was the only vehicle involved in the crash, which happened on a dry road about 6:30 a.m. about half a mile north of the Florida line. The traveling group included a second bus, plus teachers and parents in four or five cars, said Detective Chuck Byerly of the Camden County Sheriff's Department. Many of the students were sleeping when the bus flipped, smashing a guardrail and sliding on its side for about 300 feet. ``It was in the right lane, it started going to the left and it flipped over,'' said parent Sharon Miller, who was driving between the two buses. ``It hit the rail and it started skidding. ... There was a big puff of black smoke. I immediately started screaming,'' said Miller, whose daughter was safe on the second bus. Ian Bernal, 16, said he was half asleep when he felt the bus tipping and started sliding from his seat. He held onto his seat while classmates screamed. Once the skidding stopped, Ian opened the emergency exit in the window that was now above him, climbed atop the bus and started helping others out. ``I was just trying to make sure people were OK,'' he said. ``Those coming out had bloody noses and gashes. There was a lot of blood. It was scary.'' Joe Kuryla, 18, said, ``Everybody was flying all over the place,'' he said. ``After everything stopped, everybody was screaming. I was just trying to keep everybody calm — `Chill out, we're all going to get out of here.''' Renarta Moyd, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County, N.C., school system, said a car apparently pulled in front of one of the buses and caused it to swerve. But the Georgia State Patrol couldn't confirm that, saying stories were conflicting. Seventeen people were treated at Camden Medical Center in St. Mary’s, most of them for broken bones, cuts and scrapes. Seven students with more serious injuries were taken to Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. Two were listed in critical condition and three others in serious condition. The bus left Fayetteville around midnight. Massey Hill Classical High is a public school that stresses traditional academics, the arts and civic responsibility. It has an enrollment of about 350. School spokeswoman Sarah Piland said classes would go on as scheduled Friday for the students who didn't go on the trip, and counselors would be available. By
RUSS BYNUM
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