One dead, several hurt after school buses collide in New York

Associated Press

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015 | 10:25 a.m.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The driver of a bus taking students to a Rochester elementary school Tuesday morning apparently suffered a heart attack before the vehicle collided with another school bus and a tree, sending eight students and another adult to the hospital, official said.

Rochester police and city school district officials say a small school bus was taking eight students to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 9 at about 7 a.m. Tuesday when it sideswiped a full-sized First Student Transportation bus. The small bus then slammed into a tree, crumpling the vehicle's front end.

David Bonacchi, Monroe Transportation's vice president and general manager of Monroe Transportation, told the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester the driver of the company's small school bus possibly had a massive heart attack before the collision.

Authorities said the driver of the small bus died at the scene. Another Monroe Transportation official said he was a man about 30 years old. The driver's name wasn't released.

School district officials said eight elementary school students between ages 8 and 11 were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital. Four were released and four others were still being checked for non-life-threatening injuries Tuesday afternoon. A bus monitor was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.

District officials said the three students on the other bus weren't injured.

Police said the accident was still being investigated.