20 injured when tour bus of students rear-ends truck, crashes

COCOA, Fla. (AP) -- A bus full of high school students making their way home after a Bahamas vacation rear-ended a semi-truck and barreled down a shoulder into trees Friday, injuring 20 people.
None of the injuries was life-threatening, officials said.
The tour bus was carrying 48 people, mostly students and their chaperons from East Limestone High School in Athens, Ala., when it hit the truck 30 miles east of Orlando.
Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller put blame for the wreck on a car that slowed to make an illegal U-turn on the Bee Line Expressway.
When the truck slowed to avoid hitting the car, the bus couldn't swerve out of the way, clipping the truck before crossing the road and falling down a sloped shoulder toward a river, Miller said. Only several trees stopped the bus from falling completely on its side, Miller said.
Troopers were searching for the car, which left the scene.
The school group was traveling from Port Canaveral to Orlando International Airport to catch a flight home, Miller said.
Bus driver Wendy Diaz, 37, of Cocoa, was partially ejected from the vehicle, and she and another person were airlifted to hospitals.
Eighteen other people were taken to hospitals with mostly bruises and cuts and were expected to return home today. The truck driver was unhurt.