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Thom Benson
A rented charter bus carrying Birmingham, Ala., fifth-graders to the Tennessee Aquarium overturned Thursday morning, injuring 20 occupants, school and state patrol officials said.
The accident happened just before 7:30 a.m. CDT on Interstate 59 in Springville, Ala., said Trooper David Richards, an Alabama State Patrol spokesman.
Three charter buses were carrying about 120 students to Chattanooga when the accident occurred, said Nez Calhoun, spokeswoman for Jefferson County Schools in Alabama. A number of parents were following in private vehicles.
Trooper Richards said the bus, which had 46 occupants, left the northbound lane and overturned on the highway’s shoulder.
The Birmingham News reported that the bus driver, Gerald F. Bailey, 75, lost consciousness and a teacher, Amy King, tried to take control of the steering wheel.
Ms. King, along with the bus driver and two students appeared to be the most seriously injured, Trooper Richards said. They were taken to St. Vincent’s East hospital in Birmingham, he said.
“I have not seen the bus, but I’ve heard it’s a frightening scene,” Ms. Calhoun said. “All you can think of is gratitude that more were not injured. We’re truly blessed.”
The other 16 injured students were transported to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The unharmed students were unloaded from the charter buses and taken by Jefferson County school buses to a nearby National Guard Armory, Trooper Richards said.
Tennessee Aquarium officials said this was the first accident involving a school field trip since the aquarium opened. Roughly 2 million students have come through the aquarium since then, said Cindy Todd, an aquarium spokeswoman.
The students have been invited back for a free trip to the aquarium, said Thom Benson, another aquarium spokesman. He said gifts are being sent to all 120 students, and if anyone is still in the hospital Monday, the aquarium will send costumed characters for a visit.
If the students cannot visit, Mr. Benson said the aquarium would offer to send outreach educators or set up a distance learning broadcast.
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
