SC school bus with 29 children on board crashes. 10 in hospital, officials say

After a school bus wrecked in Abbeville, South Carolina, 13 people are in the hospital, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The accident happened on Highway 25 near Nation Road around 1:19 p.m., a spokesperson for the South Carolina Highway Patrol said in an email. The bus ran off the right side of the road and hit a utility pole and fence before falling down an embankment.

The Westwood Elementary bus was one of three carrying forth graders returning from a Greenville field trip, said Betty Jo Hall, Superintendent of Abbeville School District.

The crashed bus had 29 students on board and five chaperones. The 13 in the hospital are a combination of adults and students, according to Hall. The district is working to confirm if any others were transported for medical care.

The Highway Patrol said at least one student and two adults were taken by helicopter to Greenville Memorial Hospital. Eight other students and two more adults were taken by ambulance to Self Regional Medical Center in Greenwood.

Hall could not provide details on how the wreck occurred.

“Our priorities are with the students and staffs and making sure the children get home safe to their parents,” Hall said.

The driver of the bus, a 56 year old woman, was injured and taken to the hospital, the Highway Patrol spokesperson said.

Other students who were not taken to the hospital are waiting for their parents at a near by National Guard Armory, according to Hall. Other school district have assisted Abbeville in ensuring the children’s safety.

The Highway Patrol is investigating the wreck.

This story was originally published October 19, 2018 at 4:15 PM.