NEWS RELEASE

Five people, including four children, were seriously injured from a bus crash in Magoffin County on Monday morning, according to Magoffin County Judge-Executive Matt Wireman.

The accident happened around 7:20 a.m. on Route 40 when the bus went over an embankment.

Eighteen students were on the bus when the accident happened and all were taken to area hospitals. Four children and the bus driver are in serious or critical condition.

“As of the time of this statement, there are no reported fatalities, but the students and driver have varying degrees of injuries,” the school district said in a statement. “They have been transported by ambulance or helicopter to regional hospitals. The district would like to thank everyone that extended a helping hand at the scene of the accident. Please keep all families in your thoughts and prayers.”

Injuries of the occupants range from minor to critical injuries. The details of the collision are under investigation according to the Kentucky State Police.

The Salyersville Independent reported the bus was traveling toward Salyersville when it dropped off the pavement and into the ditch, then reentered the roadway. The driver appears to have overcorrected, crossing both lanes and over the embankment, striking and cutting a utility pole in half.

The bus landed on its passenger side facing Johnson County. The female driver was ejected and partially pinned under the bus. Children, ranging from elementary, middle and high school, were on the bus at the time of the accident and some were seriously injured.

There has been discussion about the possibility of a guard rail in the area where the crash happened, but water and sewer lines under the roadway have created barriers to moving forward, Wireman said.

He said several crashes have been reported in the general area over the years.

“That’s typical in any rural area where you have a lot of winding roads,” he said

The school bus did not have seat belts, Meadows said.

The National Transportation Safety Board renewed a call earlier this month for adding seat belts on school buses after completing an investigation of a 2020 crash in Tennessee that killed the driver and a 7-year-old girl.