A school bus flipped over on a North Carolina highway Tuesday morning, trapping the bus monitor partially underneath the vehicle until rescue workers freed her. Officials said nine students were injured in the incident.
The students—along with the driver and the bus monitor—were hospitalized. Sergeant A.K. Johnson of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol told the Morgantown News Herald that the bus monitor was airlifted to a trauma center after she was rescued.
The crash occurred at around 7:25 a.m. local time near Johnson Bridge Road in Burke County, according to authorities. NBC affiliate station WCNC-TV reported that "troopers said a tire on the passenger side of the bus came off, the driver overcorrected and the bus went into a ditch where it rolled over."
When reached for comment by Newsweek, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol responded with a statement.
"On Tuesday, April 9, at approximately 7:25 a.m., the NC State Highway Patrol responded to and investigated a collision in Burke County on Johnson Bridge Road near Old NC 10 involving a Burke County School bus," the statement said. "The driver was traveling west on Johnson Bridge Road, lost control, ran off the right side of the road, struck a ditch, and overturned. The bus came to rest on its top."
The message continued: "There were nine children and two adults on the bus at the time of the collision. All the children were taken to various hospitals in the area with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. One adult on the bus became partially entrapped in the bus and was transported by medical helicopter to Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, in serious condition."
The highway patrol said the driver—identified as 51-year-old Carol Ann Barnes of Lenior, North Carolina—was charged with failure to maintain lane control. The crash remains under investigation.
The statement added that the bus operates as handicapped transportation and services multiple schools in the Burke County District.
An age range for the students injured in the accident was not immediately available. WCNC-TV said the students attend multiple schools in the Burke County Schools district, including East Burke High School, Jimmy C. Draughn High School and Hallyburton Academy.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that in addition to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, the Icard Township and George Hildebran fire departments responded to the scene, as well as workers from the Burke County EMS, the Burke County Sheriff's Office and Burke County REACT.
Update 04/09/24 12:15 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include more information and a statement from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
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