Six people were killed and 18 others were injured in a chain-reaction crash involving a rented bus, a tractor-trailer truck and three other vehicles on a highway in central Ohio on Tuesday, state police said.
Three of those killed and 16 injured, including the bus driver, were on the bus carrying students and adult chaperones from the Tuscarawas Valley school district in eastern Ohio to an educational conference, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.
All the injured were taken to hospitals in the region.
The three bus passengers who died were two 18-year-old boys and a 15-year-old female student. Three adults traveling in one of the two passenger vehicles involved in the crash also died at the scene, the highway patrol said in a statement.
The driver of the second car was taken to hospital along with one of the two truck drivers. Another was treated at the scene and released, police said.
The crash occurred shortly before 9 a.m. local time on Interstate-70 near the Town of Etna, about 21 miles (34 km) east of the state capital Columbus.
Police said at least three of the five vehicles involved caught fire.
No details were given regarding the course of events. Police said the cause of the accident was being investigated.
There was no indication in images of the crash scene that weather was a factor. Local news media footage showed a large motor vehicle apparently rear-ended by a large truck; Its scorched wreckage was all that remained intact.
Indian workers trapped in collapsed tunnel as rescue efforts blocked
A damaged sport utility vehicle was also seen next to the truck.
Some of the students on the bus were members of the band scheduled to perform at the Ohio School Boards Association convention, an annual event in Columbus that includes an education fair and a “student success fair,” according to the organization’s website. The conference, which started Sunday, was canceled after Tuesday’s crash, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
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