Draft:List of School Bus Incidents

The following is a list of school bus incidents that have resulted in at least one death. The list includes incidents and accidents that involved commercial vehicles transporting primarily K-12 or pre-tertiary children to and from school or school related activities, and resulted in at least one fatality.

Fatalities involving divers or passengers on, shortly before entering, and shortly after exiting the bus are included in this list. Following guidance from the NTSB aviation definition of "fatal injury", fatality for the purpose of this list, is defined as any death occurring during the accident, or up to 30 days after the accident, as a result of injuries from the accident.

Incidents with vehicles carrying youth groups unrelated to school, day-care students, or tertiary students are not included in this list. For incidents involving vehicles outside the scope of this list, see List of traffic collisions.

1930s

1938

• December 1 - United States - South Jordan rail crossing disaster - A school bus transporting 38 students to Jordan High School in thick fog was struck by a train at a level crossing. The collision killed 23 students on board, as well as the driver. As a result of this accident, it was legally mandated that all buses in the US be required to stop at level grades before passing.

1950s

1958

• February 28 - United States - Prestonsburg, Kentucky, bus crash - During heavy rains, a Floyd County school bus with 48 students struck the rear of a wrecker truck on U.S. Route 23 and fell down an embankment into the Big Sandy River, resulting in the death of 26 students.

1960s

1960

• November 29 - Canada - Chipman-Lamont school bus-train collision - A bus carrying 42 students stopped at a railroad crossing in Lamont, Alberta. The bus proceeded across the tracks and was struck by a train before being dragged half a kilometer. 17 children were killed in the collision, and the driver suffered memory loss of the event after being in a coma.

1962

• June 11 - Argentina - During dense fog in a neighborhood of Buenos Aires, a municipal bus carrying school children was struck at a level crossing. The reported number of deaths varies, but ranges from 31 to 41, including the bus driver and one adult teacher.

1966

• October 7 - Canada - Dorion level crossing accident - While traveling to a dance in Hudson, Quebec, a school bus with 42 passengers came to a stop at a level crossing with a lowered gate and passing train. After the eastbound train passed, the gate rose, allowing the school bus to cross, where it was struck by a westbound train, resulting in the death of 21 individuals, including the driver.

1970s

1972

• March 24 - United States - Gilchrest Road crossing accident - While past capacity, carrying 48 passengers, a school bus bound for Nyack High School in Nyack, New York, proceeded across a railroad track without decreasing speed or stopping. The bus was struck in the crossing, resulting in the death of 5 students.

1976

• May 21 - United States - Yuba City bus disaster - After an air brake failure the driver mistook for a low oil pressure warning, a chartered school bus transporting 52 passengers on an elevated offramp left the roadway, landing on its roof in Martinez, California. 29 members of the choir who chartered the bus, including one adult advisor, were killed as a result of the crash.

1980s

1982

• July 31 - France - Beaune coach crash - Bound for school summer camp in the French Alps at 1:45 am, two motorcoaches approached slowing traffic on the French A6 motorway due to the road narrowing. After two cars cut between the motorcoaches, a pile up occurred and six vehicles, including both coaches, caught fire. 44 students were killed while trapped in the bus along with 2 teachers and 2 drivers. Additionally, 5 others that were in the overtaking cars, including two children, were killed in the accident.

1985

• March 27 - South Africa - Westdene dam disaster - A double-decker bus transporting high school students swerved off the road into a dam located near Westdene. 40 students drowned in the bus, and two died in the hospital shortly after.
• May 31 - United States - Snow Hill school bus collision - A Greene County school bus transporting 26 students southbound on US 13 was struck in the rear by a northbound tractor-trailer after the tractor-trailer crossed the center line. Six students on board the bus were killed as a result of the collision, in addition to driver of the tractor-trailer that struck the bus. Two other vehicles were involved in the collision.
• June 11 - Israel - HaBonim disaster - A bus carrying 39 passengers on a school field trip was struck by a passenger trail on a rural level crossing. It was the second of 4 busses to cross the tracks, and it is speculated that the bus became stuck on the tracks. 19 students, a teacher, the bus driver, and a parent chaperone were all killed as a result of the incident.

1988

• August 15 - Norway - Måbødalen bus accident - A bus chartered for a school trip, carrying fifth graders from Kista, Sweden to Bergen, Norway collided with the concrete arch at the exit of the Måbø Tunnel. The bus had been traveling down a steep grade, and the ultimate cause of the crash was determined to be faulty brakes. 12 children, 3 adults, and the driver died as a result of the accident.

1989

• September 21 - United States - Alton, Texas bus crash - After proceeding through a stop sign, a delivery truck struck a Mission Consolidated Independent School District school bus carrying 81 passengers along Farm to Market Road 676. After the collision, the bus fell into a caliche pit with about 10 feet (3.0 m) of water. The bus became submerged, and ultimately 21 students died from drowning or causes related to being asphyxiated.

1990s

1991

• August 3 - Zimbabwe - Nyanga bus accident - After traveling at excess speed, in a poorly maintained bus, on curved mountain roads in the district of Nyanga, a bus carrying 98 passengers to Roman Catholic Regina Coeli School children from an athletic event blew a tire, and ran off the road into a ravine, killing 83 students and the driver.

1995

• October 25 - United States - Fox River Grove bus–train collision - While stopped at a traffic light in Fox River Grove, Illinois, the rear end of a school bus transporting 35 passengers was struck by a passenger train due to the tail end of the bus protruding into the signaled rail crossing. 5 students were killed in the impact, and 2 students later died of injuries.

2000s

2000

• January 26 - United States - Albin, Wyoming school bus crash - While traveling on a narrow icy road, an Albin Consolidated school bus was struck by a snow plow that crossed into the busses lane, ripping the side off of the bus and ejecting two siblings. One was instantly killed and another passed away in a nearby hospital. The driver of the snowplow, the driver of the bus, and the one other sibling on the bus were all injured and transported to a local hospital.
• March 28 - United States - Conasauga, Tennessee level crossing incident - After exiting US Route 411 to pickup students, a northbound Murray County School District school bus transporting 7 students failed to stop at a level crossing where it was struck by a CSX train. It was later found that the driver was playing loud music and failed to hear the train. Of the 7 students, 3 were ejected. 1 of the ejected students, and two students on the bus were killed as a result of the collision.
• May 19 - United Sates - Montgomery County, Maryland school bus crash - While transporting 33 student northbound on Muncaster Mill Road north of Rockville, Maryland, a southbound truck hauling landscaping equipment on a trailer, jackknived on the wet road, causing the trailer to separate from the truck. The school bus struck the trailer, and the driver was killed. 3 students, and the driver of the truck/trailer were transported to the hospital as a result of the collision, and survived.
• July 7 - Spain - Soria, Spain coach crash - A motorcoach carrying students to summer camp near Soria, Soria was struck head-on by a truck hauling pigs when the truck crossed into the buss's lane. 27 were killed in the collision including both the driver of the bus and truck, 4 hall monitors, a parent, and 20 students.
• August 23 - Malaysia - Sarawak bus crash - A van transporting schoolchildren was struck head-on by an articulated lorry in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Information on this incident is scarce, but an archived BBC News report states that at least 15 died as a result on the Collison, with one schoolgirl surviving. The driver of the lorry was arrested.

2001

• February 7 - United States - Weber County, Utah school bus incident - While traveling southbound on Interstate 15, a school bus carrying 50 high school students and adults to a basketball game struck a semi-truck. Haled a hero, the driver of the bus had swerved to avoid rear ending traffic that was slowed due to an accident, clipping a semi, causing a metal truss it was carrying to go through the windshield and strike the driver in the head, killing her shortly after the accident. No other passengers were killed.
• April 27 - Canada - Oak Hill Middle School Bus Tragedy -A motorcoach carrying 45 Massachusetts brand students and chaperones to a band competition eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway in Sussex, New Brunswick, skidded off an exit ramp, turning on its side, killing four students. Because the ramp taken was in the opposite direction of the group's destination, it is assumed that the driver took the wrong exit, which had a sharp hairpin turn. Because the driver fled Canada after the accident, the exact cause is unknown.
• May 31 - United States - Mountainburg, Arkansas school bus crash - A Mountainburg, Arkansas Public Schools school bus carrying 9 students home from school westbound on Arkansas State Highway 282 was struck in the rear by a semi-truck exiting southbound Interstate 540, after the semi was unable to come to a stop at the intersection due to poorly maintained and inspected brakes. The bus overturned off the road, and 3 students were killed in the collision.
• October 13 - United States - Omaha, Nebraska school bus run-off-bridge accident - While traveling westbound on US 6 in Omaha, Nebraska, a school bus carrying 30 passengers home from a band trip struck a bridge barrier in a shifting construction zone after passing an eastbound motorcoach. The bus veered back to the road, then once again back to the barrier where the bus then plummeted 49 feet off of the bridge. Three students and one adult advisor were killed as a result of the accident.
• November 29 - United States - Delta, Utah school bus crash - While traveling westbound on US 6, just north of Delta, Utah, a school bus carrying 45 students was stuck on the side by a snowplow blade, after the eastbound snowplow struck ice, and the blade detached from the truck. One student was killed in the accident, and over 14 others, including both drivers, were injured.

2006

• November 20 - Untied States - Huntsville bus crash - After a passing vehicle on a two-lane began to fishtail, a school bus carrying 40 students from Lee High School to the Huntsville Center for Technology, swerved, going over the edge of the elevated roadway. The bus hit a 32-inch-high cement bridge rail and rode the top of the rail for 117 feet before it plunged over the side, killing 4 students on the bus.

2008

• February 19 - United States - Cottonwood, Minnesota bus crash - A school bus was traveling southbound on Minnesota Highway 23 near Cottonwood, Minnesota, carrying 28 students home from school was struck by a minivan that filed to stop at a stop sign. The bus was then struck by a pickup truck, and then fell on top of the same pickup truck. 4 students were killed in the collision.

2010s

2011

• September 27 - Pakistan - Kallar Kahar school bus accident - An overcrowded school bus was carrying around 110 school faculty and children near Kallar Kahar. While travelling along the M-2 motorway, the bus skidded due to mechanical brake failure and fell into a ravine, killing thirty schoolchildren, the bus driver, and six faculty.
• November 16 - China - Gansu school bus crash - A modified van originally designed to transport 9 passengers, was carrying 62 kindergarteners and two adults when it collided head-on with a coal truck in Gansu. Both adults and and 21 children died as a result of the accident.

2012

• March 13 - Switzerland - Sierre coach crash - A coach carrying 52 school teachers and students returning to school from a skiing trip veered and hit a curb, then collided with a concrete wall head-on in the Sierre Tunnel. 22 children, 4 teachers, and 2 bus drivers were killed in the collision. The cause of the bus veering into the curve causing the subsequent accident are still unknown.
• November 17 - Egypt - Manfalut railway accident - A school bus, which was carrying about 70 school children near Manfalut, Egypt was stuck by a train at a rail crossing. At the time barriers at the crossing were not closed, and the crossing worker was allegedly asleep. At least 50 children, as well as the bus driver were killed as a result of the impact.

2014

• July 24 - India - Medak district bus-train collision - A school bus bus carrying at least 40 children in the Medak district, was struck by a train at an unmanned level crossing, while the driver was allegedly on his cellphone. Sixteen students, the bus driver, and the cleaner were killed in the crash.

2016

• November 21 - United States - Chattanooga school bus crash - A Durham School Services school bus transporting 37 children in Chattanooga, Tennessee, lost control, struck a pole and then a tree, and flipped over, becoming wrapped around the tree. The bus was traveling at excess speeds on a narrow, winding road. 5 students died in the accident, and 1 more later died from injuries.

2017

• January 20 - Italy - 2017 Verona bus crash - While traveling on the A4 motorway near Verona, A coach transporting 54 Hungarian high school students and their teachers back from a skiing trip in France, collided with a traffic barrier, then a bridge pylon, catching fire immediately. 17 died as a result on the collision. There were no brake marks found at the accident.
• December 14 - France - Perpignan crash - A coach carrying high school students in Pyrénées-Orientales proceeded through a level crossing while the gate arms were down. The bus was stuck, resulting in the death of 6 children. While the driver and many passengers claimed the crossing arm was not down during the collision, it later found that the arms were deployed, and the driver was found guilty of inattention and recklessness.

2018

• May 17 - United States - New Jersey bus crash - A Paramus Public Schools school bus carrying 44 passengers missed an exit while traveling eastbound on I-80 near Mount Olive, New Jersey. The driver attempted an illegal U-turn into the westbound lanes of travel where the bus was stuck by a dump truck, killing 1 student and 1 teacher. The driver plead guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter.

2020s

2023

• August 22 - United States - Clark County Ohio School Bus Crash - A Northwestern Local Schools school bus transporting 52 elementary aged students on the first day of school was traveling westbound on Ohio State Route 41, when an eastbound minivan crossed the center line and struck the bus, causing the bus to overturn into a culvert. One student was ejected and killed during the accident.