School bus crash near Toledo sends 13 to hospital

TOLEDO (AP) — A minivan swerved across a roadway and collided with a school bus carrying high school students, sending all 10 students and three others to hospitals, the State Highway Patrol said.

The crash tipped the bus on its side and crumpled the van, but none of the students suffered serious injuries, said Lt. John Altman. All students were treated and released from a hospital.

“Some of us saw it coming,” said 16-year-old Amelia Wood. “I was looking up at the ceiling and didn’t see what happened. The next thing I knew we were on our side.”

Injuries to the two occupants of the minivan were serious, Altman said.

Elmer Johnson Jr., 32, and Angela Johnson, 25, both of Montpelier, were in critical condition at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, the patrol said.

The students were on their way to Toledo Express Airport where they are enrolled in a special aviation mechanics program.

They were able to crawl out of the bus through the rear emergency door and emergency hatches in the roof, Altman said.

Everyone screamed when the bus turned over, Wood said. She and another student helped the driver, who couldn’t get out of her seat.

“She was shaking like crazy,” Wood said.

The accident scattered debris across the four-lane highway. The van’s front-end was ripped apart, and firefighters had to cut the vehicle’s roof open and pull off its side doors to free the two occupants.

John Gilliland, business manager for Toledo Public Schools, said he arrived about 20 minutes after the accident to find students standing near the wreckage.

“They seemed to be very calm,” he said.

Gilliland said he talked to the driver, who first asked if the students were OK.