Major school bus crash sends children to hospital

Chino Valley- On 06/02/2009 at about 4:00 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) responded to a multiple vehicle collision with injuries involving two school buses and two pick up trucks, northbound on State Route 89, milepost 330.1 or the intersection of Road 4 North and S.R. 89, in Chino Valley, Ariz. The Chino Valley Police Department has requested that DPS conduct the investigation into this collision.

Preliminary information suggests that the driver of one pick up truck had slowed to make a turn onto road 4 north; the driver of the second pick-up following the first pick-up had slowed down along with the driver of first school bus. The driver of the second school bus lost control for an unknown reason and rear-ended the first school bus causing a chain reaction collision.

The driver of the second school bus was extricated from the bus and flown to a local area medical center for the treatment of serious injuries. The school buses from the Chino Valley Unified School District had a total of 40 students on board between both buses. Eight of the students were transported to local area hospitals with minor injuries. One of the students required extrication. The students were middle school and elementary school age.

State Route 89 was closed in the area of the collision at 4:00 P.M and reopened just before 8:00 P.M. The actual cause of this collision will not be determined for several weeks to months.