Published: June 30, 2008 11:06 am      

Ky students injured in church bus accident

Two are critically injured in Alabama crash

DOTHAN, Ala. — More than two dozen people were injured when a pickup truck hydroplaned on a wet road and crossed into the path of a church bus, police said.

Twenty-five people were injured, two critically, when the bus, which was taking Kentucky students to a Panama City, Fla., church camp Sunday, collided with the truck in Dothan, in southeast Alabama.

"Indications are, right now, that the pickup truck, the driver, lost control of the vehicle, hydroplaned across the median crossover, into the path of the church bus," said Sgt. Tim Ward of the Dothan Police Department.

Three people in the truck, including the driver and two children were injured in the crash. The two children, — ages 11 and 9 — were listed in critical condition at Southeast Alabama Medical Center.

Twenty-two people on the bus, including the driver, were hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life threatening, Ward said.

Police said the bus was taking students from Centenary United Methodist Church in Lexington, Ky. The bus was in a three-bus caravan with 74 people.

Most of the students on the bus were treated and released. At least one student was admitted for observation. The bus driver's wife had serious injuries.

Emily Evans, a counselor in the group, said she was in the bus behind the one involved in the crash. She saw the bus lurch forward, then slide off the road as the pickup spun back onto the road.

"I saw the bus and the truck hit. Stuff went flying. People were screaming," she told The Dothan Eagle. "I saw it happen and I didn't know what to think. I couldn't breathe."

Richard Grier, minister of students at Centenary, said the students were "very shaken and disturbed" by the crash.



Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.