EMPORIA, Kan. (AP) — The number of children hurt when a bus overturned on a slush-covered Kansas highway has climbed to 27.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the injury count increased Thursday based on a more detailed report by the Kansas Highway Patrol. One of the injured included an 11-year-old boy who sustained a suspected serious injury.
Early reports from state troopers and Wichita Public Schools about Wednesday’s crash said 17 were taken to a hospital with minor injuries after the bus skidded off the side of the Kansas Turnpike about 14 miles south of Emporia. The bus had been transporting more than 30 fifth-graders from Park Elementary School near downtown Wichita to the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka for a field trip.
The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said students who weren’t transported from the scene by paramedics were taken to a high school.
While there, officials realized some of those students also were hurt and took them to a hospital.
Highway patrol Capt. John Lehnherr said the investigation into the crash is ongoing.
“Obviously, weather was a contributing factor,” he said. “There was slushy roads and it was snowing very heavy at the time.”
