Tragic Turn: School Bus Accident in Illinois Leaves Community in Shock

On Monday, March 11, a tragic accident took place in western Illinois when a school bus with children on board crashed with a semi-truck. In effect, five people were killed, including three kids.

The crash occurred near Rushville, a Schuyler County, on U.S. Route 24, around 11:30 a.m. local time. The driver "for unknown reasons," as police say, crossed the center line into the westbound lanes and crashed with the semi-truck carrying sand. During the press conference, Illinois State Police Troop 6 Capt. Jody Huffman said that both vehicles were "engulfed in flames."

Five people were killed in this crash, including the drivers of the school bus and truck and three children. The persons were identified as Maria Miller, 5; Andrew Miller, 3; Noah Driscoll, 3; David Coufal, 72; and Angela Spiker, 57.

The killed children were the students of Schuyler-Industry Schools, which released a statement on social media, grieving about the death of its pupils and employed bus driver. "It is with a heavy heart that we announce our school community has lost both staff and students in the traffic incident involving one of our school buses this morning." School authorities informed that classes on Tuesday and Wednesday are canceled.

The National Transportation Safety Board also mentioned this crash, announcing on X that it would investigate the collision, which took five lives. "The NTSB, in coordination with Illinois State Police, is sending a team to conduct a safety investigation into Monday’s multivehicle collision involving a school bus and a truck tractor in combination with a semitrailer on U.S. Highway 24 in Rushville, Schuyler County, Illinois." wrote the NTSB Newsroom.

Sources: Associated Press, CBS News