Surviving victims from school bus crash released from hospitals, SC officials say
The surviving victims from Thursday’s deadly school bus crash on Interstate 77 have been released from hospitals, according to Lexington 2 School District officials.
Jose Maria Gonzalez-Linares, a 13-year-old eighth grade student at Pine Ridge Middle School, was killed when a tire blew out on the 2021 Blue Bird school bus carrying students home from a field trip to the Charlotte area, The State reported.
The bus overturned in Chester County, about 60 miles from the Lexington 2 school, and temporarily closed traffic on both directions of I-77 Thursday afternoon.
First responders found the teenager at the rear of the bus where he died of blunt force trauma, Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker said.
Three Lexington 2 buses were heading back to the Midlands after a field trip, and some people traveling on the two other buses — which swerved to avoid a collision — were also treated at local hospitals, according to Chester County Emergency Management.
Multiple injuries were reported, and overall 38 people involved in the crash were treated and evaluated at hospitals, The State reported.
Chester County Emergency Management Director Ed Darby said that three of the victims were transported by helicopter, and the rest by ground, to five hospitals:
Further information on the surviving victims’ conditions was not available, but as of Saturday all had been released from the multiple hospitals.
“Our focus since this devastating event has been, and will continue to be, our students, families, employees, and the entire Pine Ridge Middle School community,” Lexington 2 Superintendent Brenda Hafner said Saturday in a news release. “Our heart aches for the family of the student who is no longer with us. We are thankful to know others who were being evaluated and treated have now been released.”
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This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 9:08 AM.
