FARIBAULT COUNTY, Minn. — A school bus and a Ford Mustang were involved in a collision on Saturday night, leaving multiple student athletes from Waseca High School injured and one man dead, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.
The crash happened around 8:45 p.m. Saturday in Foster Township, about 20 miles west of Albert Lea. State troopers said the school bus was headed east on I-90 and a 2006 Ford Mustang was traveling westbound when they collided.
"Just very chaotic and lots of tears… from the girls, as well as from parents, and very scary," said Michele Mumme, whose daughter Emily Mumme, 14, was on the bus.
"She said she was sitting in the second row on the right side and she said she was just looking at her phone," Mumme recalled her daughter telling her. "She said all of a sudden everything went black and I woke up and everybody was screaming."
Mumme estimates about 30 girls were on the bus, headed back from a volleyball tournament in Fairmont. They included girls from Waseca's Varsity, Junior Varsity and C Squad volleyball programs.
Parent Chris Donovan said he noticed something was wrong when the tracking app for their daughter Makya, 14, stopped moving.
The State Patrol website said seven girls ages 16 and younger were taken to the Albert Lea Hospital after the crash for treatment of minor injuries. A 24-year-old woman and the driver of the bus were listed on the report, but deemed "uninjured."
The driver of the Mustang, 55-year-old Mark Alan Tigner of Brandon, South Dakota, died at the scene. Tigner was wearing a seatbelt when the crash occurred.
Waseca Public Schools Superintendent Eric Hudspith told KARE 11 the district is following up with students and families to support them.
"We are fortunate that none of our staff and students were seriously hurt, and are heartbroken this happened," Supt. Hudspith said.
The district addressed the crash with a statement on Sunday:
Last evening, a school bus carrying our volleyball teams was involved in a collision with another vehicle as they traveled back from an away contest. While the state patrol is continuing to investigate the accident, we can confirm that no Waseca students or staff were seriously injured in the incident, and we are following up with students and families to support them through this event. Unfortunately, partial reports can result in misinformation being shared, so we wanted to give our school community the most accurate update we could without interrupting law enforcement's work. Thank you for all of your thoughts and well wishes for our students and staff.
"I heard a number of girls last night, my kid included, say, 'I don't want to get on another bus,'" Mumme said. "I think physically I'm sure they'll all heal over time. The bumps, and bruises, and headaches, and that kind of thing. But I think the emotional stuff is, it's going to last a while."
KARE 11 will update this story as more info is made available.
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