A tragic collision between a school bus and a semi-truck on Monday morning claimed the lives of five people, including three young children, authorities have confirmed. The Chicago Tribune reported that the ill-fated school bus was en route eastward on U.S. Route 24 near Rushville, a small community with a population of about 3,000, when it swerved across the centerline for reasons still unknown, careening into a sand-laden semi-truck traveling in the opposite direction. Both vehicles became engulfed in flames following the impact.
The crash, which occurred roughly 60 miles west of Springfield, resulted in immediate fatalities for all passengers on the school bus from Schuyler-Industry Schools, a trio of children and their driver, as well as the truck operator. "There’s not really words at this time that can be said," Schuyler County Sheriff Bill Redshaw told reporters, according to a statement obtained by Fox59.
Names of the victims were released, with Nexstar’s WCIA revealing the identities of the dearly departed as three-year-olds Noah Driscoll and Andrew Miller, five-year-old Maria Miller, 57-year-old bus driver Angela Spiker, all residents of Rushville, and the semi-truck driver, 72-year-old David Coufal of Browning, Illinois. As the Schuyler County Coroner Terry Millslagle noted, the bodies were being sent to Springfield to undergo autopsies. This tragic turn of events has led to the cancelation of classes within the Schuyler-Industry School district on Tuesday and Wednesday, stating “It is with a heavy heart that we announce our school community has lost both staff and students in the traffic incident involving one of our school buses this morning,” according to a Chicago Tribune report.
While the community mourns, the National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched an investigative team to probe into the collision, with Illinois State Police Troop 6 Captain Jody Huffman stating that the cause of the crash remains under investigation, as of Monday afternoon.
