Multiple Children Injured in Bus Accident on First Day of School

A school bus carrying dozens of children and one adult flipped on its side Wednesday, just as students were returning home from the first day of school.

The accident took place in Austin, Texas and 12 people were injured in total. The bus was transporting students from the Leander Independent School District in northwestern part of the city, which is located in Travis County.

Emergency services were dispatched to the scene shortly after 3 PM local time, and they arrived to find the bus rolled over into an embankment, surrounded by trees. The vehicle appears to have taken significant damage, with several scrapes, scratches and dents. 

The side of the bus facing up has a large hole in it, and may have been the occupants' method of escape after the bus came to a stop.

12 people were transported to a local hospital after the accident. Of those hospitalized, one has a life-threatening injury and two could possibly have life-threatening injuries, according to Austin-Travis County emergency services.

The rest of the students were taken to a reunification center for evaluation and to eventually be back with their families.

A spokesperson for first responders told reporters that ten total transport units responded to the scene of the accident. Eight ambulances arrived, as well as two helicopters to airlift injured people away from the scene.

Texas' Department of Public Safety is conducting an investigation into the crash, and has reported a few preliminary details. The bus was traveling from nearby Bagdad Elementary School and had been traveling on a road known for a slight curve.

For an "unknown reason," the bus left the right side of the road and rolled over. The bus is a 2024 Bluebird model and has seatbelts, ensuring that some of the children and the adult driver were able to secure themselves in place before the accident happened.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only bus accident to take place involving children on Wednesday in the state of Texas.

Over 50 children were hurt when a bus flipped in Cleveland, Texas - the second such accident to take place in that city's school district this week.

In that crash, which happened on the same road of FM 1010 in Cleveland, 36 students and a driver were taken to the hospital. No life-threatening injuries have been reported in either of the Cleveland, Texas crashes.