HIBBING, Minn. — Law enforcement is on the scene of a school bus crash near Hibbing.
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay told Northern News Now that the bus collided with another vehicle shortly before 8 a.m. at the intersection of Town Line Road and County Hwy. 5 between Hibbing and Cherry, causing the bus to roll. First responders implemented a "mass casualty" plan based on the potential volume of victims.
Northern News Now/KBJR reported 10 children were originally reported as injured, but that number has been upped to 12. Ten of those kids and the bus driver were transported to area hospitals, all with non-life-threatening injuries. The students were from Cherry School, a K-12 program that is part of the St. Louis County Public Schools. Their ages are currently unknown.
Hibbing Fire/EMS Chief Erik Jankila said in a news release that a witness who saw the crash and called 911 told dispatchers the bus was laying on its side, and children were crawling out on their own. When rescue rigs arrived they found the driver of the small SUV that collided with the bus was trapped in the crumbled vehicle and had to be extricated.
That person was airlifted to Essentia Health Hospital in nearby Virginia with injuries described as life-threatening.
Concerned parents began arriving on the scene after hearing of the crash, wondering about the condition of their kids.
"It's nerve-wracking ... especially when you're dealing with children," said St. Louis County Undersheriff Jason Akerson, who was on the scene. "It brings a different level to the response."
Akerson said squads from St. Louis County deputies, Hibbing police and the Minnesota State Patrol, and ambulances from several communities responded to help at the scene.
The transportation director for St. Louis County Public Schools arrived soon after the crash with a master list of students aboard the bus, which the sheriff's office used to direct concerned parents to the hospital or safe location their child had been transported to.
"To be a parent and get a call in the morning like this... It's something no parent wants to go through," Akerson said. "We had a list of kids - as well as we could, we tried to have their information on hand so we could say 'your son or daughter is here.'"
This is a developing story. Stay with KARE 11 for updates.