Students, driver injured in tornado-related bus accident

ROCKFORD, Ill. — Five students and a school bus driver suffered various injuries when winds from a tornado that hit Rockford on Monday flipped a District 205 school bus in Winnebago County.

Michael Wood, 9, suffered a cracked C-7 vertebra and several cuts to his face and body, WGN-TV reports. Wood told the news source that he blacked out at some point after seeing the tornado next to the bus, and awoke to find his classmates and the driver "all bloody."

Wood's mother, Donna, told WGN-TV that school district failed to notify her following the accident. She instead received a call from a woman who drove by the scene and then contacted hospitals in the area to find her son.

A district spokesperson confirmed that parents had not been called, but stated that letters had been delivered to parents at the hospitals. The spokesperson told WGN-TV that emergency personnel kept school officials away from the scene of the accident.