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SCHOOL BUS CRASH REPORTS 2001Plow Hits School Bus A Utah Highway Patrol trooper inspects a hole in the side of a school bus near Delta. The battered snowplow, below, went out of control when it hit a snowbank and veered into the bus. Rescuers use power tools to cut into a school bus and remove victims on Thursday after the bus was hit by a snowplow near Delta. A girl, 9, died in the accident.
A bus taking children home from school got caught in a furious snowstorm Thursday and was struck by the blade of a careening snowplow, killing a 9-year-old girl and injuring 12 of her schoolmates. Police extricated the injured children from the bus following the 3:30 p.m. crash on state Route 6, three miles north of Delta. Camille Kunzler was rushed to Delta Hospital, where a short time later she was pronounced dead of massive head injuries. Two students, ages 8 and 13, were rushed by ambulance to the trauma center at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo with critical head injuries, said spokesman Bryant Larson. The other students were recovering from an assortment of injuries that ranged from cuts and lacerations to broken bones at Delta Hospital, said spokeswoman Sonya Taylor. The other victims' names were not released by Thursday night, but Taylor said the students attend Delta North Elementary School and Delta Middle and High School. There were at least 20 students aboard, said Ted Tingey, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman. The bus driver, John Lightener, suffered broken bones and cuts, while the Utah Department of transportation snowplow driver, Glen Allen Christensen, sustained multiple lacerations of the face and head, Taylor said. Blizzardlike conditions, including high winds and drifting snow, grounded a Life Flight helicopter, which had been requested by emergency workers, said LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez. At the time of the accident, winds in excess of 30 mph and blowing snow put visibility at less than one mile, said Wayne Brady, National Weather Service meteorologist. "These were extreme weather and snow conditions," Tingey said. The westbound bus was taking children home just after school when the eastbound snowplow hit a snowdrift, spun around, "and went down the side of the bus just like a can opener," Keith Griffiths, school district business manager, told The Associated Press. The plow's blade hit with such force that it cut halfway into the bus, ripping out four seats, said Delta Assistant Fire Chief Ben Johnson. A Millard School District bus that was following the first bus stopped and took the uninjured children home, Tingey said. Department of Transportation spokesman Myron Lee said officials were doing everything possible to assist the Utah Highway Patrol in its investigation. "It's a tragic event," Lee said. "Anytime something like this involves school children, it's really bad." The investigation continued through the night and resulted in the closure of a portion of SR-6 for several hours. As news of the accident spread through the tight-knit farming community on the edge of Utah's Great Basin, shock turned to sadness. "It's quite upsetting to us all," said Lee Tippetts, a member of the Millard Board of Education. "It's going to be very, very devastating and I guess you could say disconcerting." Taylor said the emergency room was overflowing with patients, family members and concerned members of the community. "We're doing OK, we're just trying our best to deal with all of this," she said. Since 1990, there have been just over 1,300 school bus-related crashes nationwide, according to the latest available data compiled last year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those accidents have claimed the lives of 1,450 people, many of them children. The worst road crash in Utah history occurred on Dec. 1, 1938, when an eastbound Jordan High School bus was struck by a fast-moving train on 10600 South near State Street. The accident, which like Thursday's happened during a blinding snowstorm, claimed the lives of 24 Jordan High School students. Two years ago, 19 schoolchildren were treated for a variety of injuries after a bus traveling from Kanarraville to Cedar Middle and Cedar City High schools hit an icy spot on Interstate 15, tipped over and rolled. © Copyright 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune
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