MOUNT OLIVE, N.J. — A school bus and a dump truck collided on a highway here on Thursday, killing a student and a teacher aboard the bus.
The crash, which occurred at about 10:20 a.m., left the undercarriage of the bus completely ripped away from the bus body, and left the body on its side in the median, NBC 4 reports. The red dump truck, registered to Mendez Trucking, had a mangled front end, according to The Washington Post.
Forty-three of the 45 people aboard the bus were hospitalized, Gov. Phil Murphy said in a press conference. About 50 fifth-grade students were aboard the bus, which was one of three going on a field trip at the time, officials told The New York Times.
The bus was coming from East Brook Middle School in Paramus, a Paramus Public Schools official told CNN. The district said on its Facebook page that the bus was on its way to Waterloo Village, a restored 19th-century town.
The Paramus Police Department on its Facebook page directed parents to the East Brook Middle School auditorium to get information about the location and well-being of their children. The department also noted that the two other buses on their way to the field trip had returned to the school.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) tweeted that it was gathering information on the crash, and later tweeted that it was not investigating the crash.
The crash comes just a few days before NTSB's planned May 22 meeting to share findings from a special investigation report on school bus safety. The report is based on two fatal November 2016 school bus crashes: one in Baltimore, Maryland, which killed the drivers of a school bus and a transit bus, as well as four transit bus passengers; and one in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in which six students were killed and more than 30 were injured.
Watch video from NBC 4 below showing the school bus and the dump truck.
Video of the school bus crash in Mount Olive Township NJ. Several students injured. Sources tell @NBCNewYork two people passed away. At the end of the video you'll see the dump truck officers say was involved in the crash pic.twitter.com/1fnk1ZVmej
— Erica Byfield (@EricaByfield4NY) May 17, 2018
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| about 2 years agoFrom the New York Times: "Images of the twisted metal and the toppled bus left many parents fearing that the death toll could climb, although the strict use of seatbelts may have saved some lives. In New Jersey, all school buses are required to have seatbelts, and Mr. Paul said that many students were still belted when help arrived. One student who was on one of the other two buses said seatbelt use was double-checked by an adult before the trip."