An accident involving a school bus and a tractor on two separate roadways has left communities in both Mississippi and Kent reeling. On Monday, emergency crews responded to a collision in Coahoma County, Mississippi, where a school bus sustained severe damage, reported Memphis-based WREG. Fortunately, no life-threatening injuries were reported in the incident that took place around 3:30 p.m. near Old Highway 61.
In a separate incident the following day in Kent, a crash between a school bus and a tractor left twelve children injured, one seriously. The collision occurred near Meopham, prompting a major emergency services response, including an air ambulance that transported one child to King's College Hospital in London. According to BBC News, a 33-year-old man from East Sussex has been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Having hospitalized the bus driver and twelve children, the man has been bailed with a requirement to return for further questioning.
Witnesses and anyone with potential dashcam footage of the Kent collision, which took place around 3:25 p.m. on the A227 South Street, are being urged by police to come forward. This plea was underscored by images of the damaged double-decker bus that surfaced on social media, depicting the top deck's left side torn apart. "The bus driver and 12 children were taken to hospital. One child remains in a London hospital in a serious but stable condition," a Kent Police spokesperson detailed in a statement obtained by Daily Mail.
As the road near Culverstone Green remained closed in the aftermath, three children, besides the one in a serious but stable condition, continued receiving treatment for injuries described as serious. "The collision is being investigated by Kent Police's Serious Collision Unit (SCIU) and officers are appealing to any witnesses to contact them," the police spokesperson added. Meanwhile, far from the chaos of the Kent accident's aftermath, Mississippi parents and children are left grappling with their own brush with calamity, an echo of the fragility that lingers with each morning's kiss goodbye and each climb onto the yellow bus.
