Kansas School Bus Plunges Off Bridge, Children In The Water

UPDATE: 9 pm – The trapped bus driver has now been rescued and he is being treated for hypothermia at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. The 64-year-old driver appears to be the only person injured in the crash and all the children are reported safe.

Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet praised the courage of the children and the driver:

“Well, the kids handled it wonderfully, the older kids helped some of the younger kids. The bus driver helped as well. The school district for using their emergency plan, getting ahold of parents, getting people out here. Everyone did an excellent job.”

NBC station KSN in Whicita spoke with 12-year-old Logan Parker, who was on the bus:

“The bus flipped over, and we [were] in the water, “We climbed out and got on top of the bus. We were up there two hours and a half. With other children yelling and crying, I thought I was going to die. I would never ever see my grandma again, and I was scared.”

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined, but heavy rain fell in the area on Thursday morning, According to the Sheriff, “Water was running over the road.”

UPDATE: 6 pm – All of the children in the Kansas school bus accident are now believed to have been rescued. If breaking news reports are accurate, the Douglass school bus driver is still trapped.

A school bus plunged off a bridge in Douglass, Kansas. Breaking news reports from Fox stated that up to 10 children are in the water and the bus driver may be trapped. Swift water rescue crews have been dispatched to the accident scene. The Kansas school bus went off the bridge at 190th and Hopkins Switch in Butler County.

The Butler County Under-Sheriff reports that the school bus is upside down in the water.

9 pm update by Wolff Bachner