13-year-old killed, others hurt in South Carolina school bus crash
CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV) - The Chester County Coroner’s Office confirmed the person who died in a school bus crash Thursday afternoon was a 13-year-old boy.
While the coroner did not provide the boy’s name, he said the boy was an eighth-grader at Pine Ridge Middle School.
The crash happened when a school bus overturned on I-77 in Chester County, the South Carolina Highway Patrol said Thursday.
The bus, carrying Pine Ridge Middle School students, was bound for home after a field trip in the Charlotte-area, Lancaster County School District 2 said.
Shortly after state troopers confirmed a fatality among the 38 people aboard the bus, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster released a statement about the deadly crash.
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Devin Barrington-Ward, the director of communications for the National Police ability Project, called the crash an avoidable shame.
“Today’s school bus accident in Chester County is a tragedy no family should ever have to endure. Peggy and I are heartbroken. Please us in praying for the victim, their family, a speedy recovery for those injured, and the entire Lexington Two community. All of South Carolina is with you,” said McMaster.
South Carolina Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver also released a statement, writing:
“Our hearts are broken by the tragic bus accident in Chester County this afternoon. Our entire state is mourning alongside the Pine Ridge Middle School families, friends, classmates, and educators. Please me in praying for the Lexington Two community.”
Chester County EMA said 38 people in total were transported to five different hospitals. Three of them were taken by helicopter.
Officials hadn’t confirmed by Thursday whether the person who died was a student or one of the three adults on the bus.
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Crews rushed to the South Carolina welcome center on Interstate 20 to fight a vehicle fire Thursday afternoon.
Two other school buses were “traveling from a field trip just outside of Charlotte,” the Chester County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Thursday.
They were not involved in the crash, officials said.
No other vehicles were believed to be involved in the crash.
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