School Bus Crash: 50 Injured in Georgia Crash Involving Six School Buses
Six school buses crashed on 1-20 near Atlanta, prompting a DOT investigation
May 19, 2012— -- Six school buses taking some 200 middle school students to Six Flags crashed today in Newton County, Ga., leaving more than 50 people injured, state officials said.
There were a total of around 200 students from Burke County Middle School in Waynesboro, Ga., on the six buses, according to a spokesman from the local office of the Georgia Department of Transportation.
One of the bus drivers, Angela Anthony, 44, from Midville, Ga., was airlifted from the scene of the crash on westbound I-20 to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta with serious injuries, according to Georgia Department of Public Safety spokesman Gordy Wright.
A total of 50 other people were taken to Newton Medical Center for complaints of injury, he said.
The crash took place south of Social Circle and east of Covington at mile marker 98 on I-20, just west of the Georgia Highway 11 Exit, after traffic slowed for an upcoming lane closure, according to Wright. As the buses slowed down, one bus struck the rear of another, which spurred a chain reaction of crashes among the remaining buses. A passenger car that followed the buses was the final vehicle in the line, and it struck the rear of the sixth bus.
Emergency personnel from Newton and Morgan counties, the State Patrol and the cities of Covington and Social Circle responded to the accident, Newton County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Tyrone Oliver told ABC affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta. Morgan County sent several buses to the scene to help transport uninjured children, said WSB-TV.
The Georgia State Patrol's Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is investigating the accident, according to Wright.
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