Philadelphia

School Bus Carrying Students With Special Needs Overturns in Rural Pa., Kids Hurt

A dump truck hauling concrete struck a school bus carrying special needs students to their rural Pennsylvania school, causing the bus to overturn Monday morning leaving students and adults hurt, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Police said the vehicles collided at Strasburg Road & South Vintage Road in Paradise, Lancaster County -- about 50 miles west of Philadelphia -- around 9 a.m.

Four children with physical disabilities -- two in wheelchairs -- one aide and one driver were on the Pequea Valley School District bus when the dump truck rolled through a stop sign and struck the bus, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Medics rushed the six victims to Lancaster General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. They were all later released.

A nearby family helped pull the people from the bus, according to witnesses.

All the students attend Salisbury Elementary School in Gap, Pennsylvania.

As SkyForce10 hovered overhead, you could see police responding to bus, which wound up on its side. The force of the crash caused the lower, right side of the bus to be pushed inward and it also caused one tire to fall off.

The dump truck, which appeared to be hauling rocks or dirt, had front-end damage. "Advantage Metered Concrete, Inc." -- a Leola, Pennsylvania-based company -- was written on the side of the truck.

According to records, the company has been inspected 17 times by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation within the past two years. The company also received four violations, two for drivers not wearing seatbelts, one for a driver talking on a cellphone and one for a driver who didn't stop at a redlight or stop sign.

The driver was shaken and emotional as he remained on the scene. As a precaution, a local hospital checked him out, according to police.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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