Semitrailer rear-ends bus carrying students in Ohio, killing 3 and sending 15 to hospital

A charter bus carrying students from a high school was rear-ended by a semi-truck on an Ohio highway Tuesday morning, leaving three people dead and 15 others injured, according to an emergency official.

The charter bus was transporting students from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio, Licking County Emergency Management Agency Director Sean Grady said.

There were a total of 57 people onboard, he said.

The bus was carrying Tuscarawas Valley students and chaperones to an Ohio School Boards Association conference in Columbus, Superintendent Derek Varansky said.

“Right now, our focus is on getting in touch with our Tusky Valley families who had loved ones on the bus and providing support to our entire school community,” Varansky said in a Facebook post.

The accident occurred shortly before 9 a.m. on Interstate 70 West in Licking County, near the Smoke Road underpass and about 26 miles (42 kilometers) east of Columbus.

The cause was not immediately known.

The injured were being treated at five hospitals.

The American Red Cross of Central and Southern Ohio said it fulfilled a request for more blood from one hospital in the area, sending 30 units to a hospital in the Mount Carmel Health System, said Marita Salkowski, regional communications director.

A center was set up at a United Methodist Church in Etna for bus passengers not in need of medical attention to go to and contact loved ones, she said.

Numerous emergency responders were at the scene, and Ohio Department of Transportation cameras from the area showed smoke coming from the crash site.

The highway was closed in both directions and numerous traffic delays were being reported.

Mickey Lymon, an investigator with the Licking County Coroner’s Office, said they had been called to the scene, but deferred other questions to the state police.