A school bus carrying more than thirty children overturned Monday morning in Evangeline Parish. All of the 34 child passengers on the bus were transported to area hospitals as a precaution. Fortunately, none of the children were reported to have suffered any serious injuries in the accident.
The bus reportedly overturned on LA 1165, also known as L’Anse Aux Paiulles Road, near the intersection with Haute Chataignier Road. There was no other vehicle involved in the bus accident. At this time, it is believed that the bus driver hit a pothole and then overcorrected causing the bus to overturn.
According to a state police spokesperson, the bus apparently drove off the right side of the road and was then pulled back to the left, crossing both lanes of traffic. The driver was then able to pull the bus back to the right, again crossed both lanes of traffic, but then left the road again and overturned in a roadside ditch. The spokesperson added that the bus driver has been cited for careless operation of a vehicle.
The Evangeline Parish Superintendent noted that 29 of the students on the bus at the time of the crash attend Chataignier Elementary School, a pre-kindergarten through eight eight-grade school, and the five other children were students at Ville Platte High School.
The bus involved in the accident was operated by a company called First Student, a private bus service that services school districts around the country and has served Evangeline Parish for the last six years. The bus reportedly carried a GPS tracker, a camera, and a speed recorder and all of the information collected by those instruments is being collected and reviewed.
Related Resources:
School bus overturns (Daily World)
