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• The crash happened on I-80 in Mount Olive Township in New Jersey at 10.22am on Wednesday morning
• A student and a teacher were killed and dozens more students were injured in the accident
• Twenty ambulances flocked to the scene to take the wounded children to nearby hospitals
• Some of the students are still undergoing surgery in other hospitals. The dump truck driver is also in hospital
• The bus belongs to East Brook Middle School in Paramus and is believed to have been taking kids on a trip
• The school had a day trip for 5th Graders, who are aged 10 to 11, to Waterloo Village scheduled for the day
• The truck belongs to Mendez Trucking which is based in Belleville and has a history of traffic accidents

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• e-mail[1]

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Two people, including one student, died and 43 people were injured in a horrifying school bus crash in New Jersey on Thursday morning.

The incident happened at around 10.22am on I-80 Thursday morning near Mount Olive Township as the bus from East Brook Middle School in Paramus made its way towards Waterloo Village with 38 students and seven adults on board for a school trip.

The children were all fifth graders aged between 10 and 11.

It is not clear how the accident happened but it involved the bus colliding with a red dump truck. The impact was so strong it forced the bus off its chassis.

The cab carrying all of the passengers and driver went flying into the metal barrier on the side of the highway as a result.

One adult and one student died.

The adult was a teacher, according to officials who spoke at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Forty-three people were taken to hospital and some remain in a critical condition. Some of the victims are still undergoing surgery in various area hospitals.

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This was the scene on I-80 near Mount Olive Township in New Jersey on Thursday morning after a bus carrying 5th graders on a school trip crashed into a dump truck. One teacher and one child died and many more were injured

First responders and motorists who got out of their cars to help the children are shown above on Thursday as the first police arrived

A view from an overpass shows the bus crashed through the barrier on the side of the highway and flipped on to its side. Students had not yet been taken to hospital and there was a rush of other motorists who offered to help them as they climbed out of the vehicle

The front of the bus was entirely mangled and it had come clean off its chassis as a result of the impact

Not only did the bus carriage come off its chassis but the cab, where the driver sits, also tore away from the rest of the bus, splitting the driver and the children up. The steering wheel was left entirely exposed

This is the mangled dump truck which was also involved in the accident. Its driver is receiving treatment in hospital. The vehicle belongs to Mendez Trucking which is based out of Belleville, New Jersey

The bus was one of three taking students from the school to the historic village.

The other two vehicles arrived safely at the historic site but, when teachers learned of the accident, made their way back to the school after 10 minutes.

The children were told at the time that they had to turn back because of a storm.

They only learned of the accident involving their classmates once they were back at the school. Police were seen searching the surrounding woodland with cadaver dogs afterwards.

Students on the other two buses have since revealed that none of them had their cell phones with them at the time because they all left their phones in lockers at the school before departing for the trip.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said morosely: ‘I stand here as both the governor and somebody who knows the community very well. I am also here as a dad and you have days like this…. this is tragic.

A view from the overpass shows emergency workers loading students into ambulances as other traffic came to a standstill in the immediate aftermath of the crash

Police work at the wreckage of the crash on Thursday afternoon in Mount Olive Township, New Jersey

The mangled wreck of the bus on Thursday morning. It remains unclear how many children were on board at the time

The extent of the injuries of other victims remains unclear but some are still undergoing surgery. At the scene of the crash, discarded bandages and pieces of gauze were left lying on the ground after being used by paramedics

Investigators are pictured at the scene of the crash on Thursday afternoon

Shattered glass from the windows were left on the highway along with clothes, pieces of paper and bandages that all flew onto the road in the accident

An investigator with a cadaver dog walks through the wreckage on Thursday afternoon

An investigator peers into the bus on Thursday to work at the scene. There were several agencies there by the afternoon

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the families, the teachers, the councillors, the staff, the extraordinary first responders who in many cases were at the scene of this accident.

‘It is with a heavy heart that we stand before you.

‘There were 38 students and seven adults on board including the driver, a total of 43 people of 45 were injured and were transported to area hospitals for treatment.

‘Some are in critical condition and are undergoing surgery so please keep everybody in your prayers.

‘There are two confirmed fatalities, god rest their souls.’

The bus collided with a red truck which belongs to Mendez Trucking, a Belleville based company.

The New York Post[2] reports that the company and, specifically the truck which was involved in Thursday’s accident, has a history of problems.

The same truck was involved in an accident on the NJ Turnpike in 2016.

It is not clear if it was the same driver.

The vehicle has the words ‘In God We Trust’ written on the back. The front of it was destroyed in the accident.

Investigators work at the scene of the accident on Thursday afternoon as the 43 survivors received hospital treatment and the relatives of the two people killed learned of their deaths

The bus remained at the scene long into the afternoon as investigators flocked en masse. It remains unclear what caused the crash

The entire body of the bus came off the chassis and went flying in to the highway median with the 38 students and seven adults inside. The cab where the driver sits also came apart from the rest of the carriage

The sun roofs on the bus were left flung open. The students are likely to have used them to escape after the bus flipped onto its side

Police will not give any possible explanation for the crash and are referring questions to the state investigators and county prosecutors

The accident happened on Interstate 80 near Exit 25 in Mount Olive Township. The children are believed to have been on their way to Stanhope on a school trip

As news of the crash emerged, petrified parents rushed to the school to find out if their child was one of those involved.

‘This is something you hope never happens in your hometown. We’re just waiting to hear from everyone we know,’ Angela Miaoulis, one parent, told North Jersey[3].

Her son is in the eighth grade.

Two patients are at St Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson. Ten were being cared for at St Clare’s Health in Dover and Denville. At least one patient was taken to St.

Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, and several patients were taken to Hackettstown Medical Center.’

Photographs from the crash show children sitting by the side of the road, hugging one another after escaping from the wreckage.

It remains unclear how the crash came about. The bus is from East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey, ABC[4] reports.

A New Jersey State police officer observes the truck from an overpass on I-80 after the victims were taken to hospital

Police used dogs to help search the wooded areas surrounding the road in case anyone had been thrown from the vehicle

A K-9 unit is seen searching the wooded area next to the highway where the accident happened

All of the people in the bus and in the truck are accounted for in hospitals across the area. Before police were able to reach that conclusion, they combed the woodland nearby

According to the school’s calendar, a Grade 5 day trip to Waterloo Village in Stanhope was scheduled for today. Grade 5 children are aged between 10 and 11.

Mount Olive police said it was responding to the incident but would not give further details.

‘Crash investigation on Route 80 by mile marker 25.

‘Route 80 closed both directions.

Westbound traffic being diverted at exit 26. Expect heavy traffic and delays on Route 46,’ it said. The mayor described the scene as ‘horrific’.

At least two of the victims have been sent to St.

Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson.

Several others are being taken to Hackettstown Medical Center.

The crash shut traffic in both directions.

It remains unclear what the condition of both drivers is.

Police say the bus belongs to East Brook Middle School in Paramus, New Jersey

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References

1. ^ e-mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
2. ^ The New York Post (nypost.com)
3. ^ North Jersey (www.northjersey.com)
4. ^ ABC (6abc.com)