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closeFriday, May. 09, 2008
Buses collide in Yosemite, 12 children sent to hospital
No serious injuries reported in group of 83 students
By VICTOR A. PATTON
vpatton@mercedsun-star.com
Photo by Marci Stenberg
Merced Sun-Star
Two school buses from Newman that collided in Yosemite National Park sit on the side of Highway 120 on Thursday.
YOSEMITE -- A school outing to Yosemite National Park was cut short Thursday after one school bus rear-ended another on Big Oak Flat Road, about a mile north of El Portal Road.
No one on the buses was seriously hurt, officials said. The buses, which carried a total of 83 students and 18 adults, were from Yolo Middle School in Newman.
Rick Fauss, superintendent of Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District in Stanislaus County, said 12 students were treated at various hospitals for minor and moderate injuries -- mostly scrapes, along with neck and back injuries. One adult also received medical treatment, Fauss said.
At first, Fauss said there were reports that up to 40 children had been injured. Fortunately, those reports turned out to be incorrect.
The official cause of the accident, which occurred at 10:55 a.m., is being investigated, said Scott Gediman, a park ranger. Fauss, who talked to parents who were on the buses, said the accident unfolded after one bus apparently made an abrupt stop and the other bus didn't stop in time.
Fauss said the district notified parents by using an automated phone system. Parents of students with injuries received a personal phone call. "We were told by people on the scene that the (students) were being taken care of and none (of the injuries) were serious. That was the biggest relief," Fauss said.
About 50 emergency personnel, including park rangers, paramedics and search-and-rescue crews, arrived at the scene, Gediman said. Those who were uninjured were transported to a visitor center in the park.
After the accident, four people were taken to Mercy Medical Center Merced, three to Doctors Medical Center in Modesto and six to Yosemite Valley Medical Clinic, according to park ranger Adrienne Freeman.
Freeman said the school bus accident was the first of its kind to occur at that section of road in recent years. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of (school) buses use these roads," Freeman said. "This event is kind of unusual."
Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.
