Bus Crash Injures Students On South Florida Field Trip
Twenty people, including 19 students and one adult, from Pembroke Pines are recovering in the hospital after their buses collided on the way from a field trip Tuesday afternoon. The crash happened in the eastbound lanes of Alligator Alley near Mile Marker 30.The Florida Highway Patrol said the first bus driver hit the brakes suddenly to avoid a construction cone in the road and was rear ended by the second bus which was following behind.
Jake Klomparens was on board the second bus.
“Everybody fell forward and I hit my head on the seat,” the 8-year-old told Local 10’s Roger Lohse.
The two charter buses were carrying 83 fourth graders from Pembroke Pines Charter Elementary school home from a field trip to the Billie Swap Safari in the Everglades.
Paramedics from several different agencies responded to the scene in the middle of the Everglades. Damage to the buses was minimal. The injured were transported to area hospitals with minor injuries.
The charter company that owned by buses brought in a third bus to take students who weren’t injured back to school.
Eastbound I-75 was closed for more than an hour as rescue workers treated the injured, while the Florida Highway Patrol investigated the crash.