BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas – New video shows the intense moment when a Columbia-Brazoria ISD bus crashed into a dump truck Thursday morning.
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District officials said the secondary route school bus crashed into a dump truck over at a construction zone on CR 353 and Highway 36 around 6:45 a.m. It appears to have happened because of some confusion with construction signs used by workers.
DPS officials said the bus driver was heading northbound and the dump truck was traveling south. Some of the workers were using “stop” and “slow” signs as traffic moved through. The workers were stopping traffic to allow the dump truck to back up but officials say the school bus driver thought the worker was holding a “slow” sign.
Update... This morning, a CBISD secondary route school bus collided with a dump truck at CR 355 and Highway 36. ...
Posted by Columbia Brazoria ISD on Thursday, October 3, 2024
Initially, it was reported that 21 students were on the school bus, but district officials later confirmed with our Brittany Jeffers there were 34 students on the bus. Two people, a student and the bus driver, were evaluated for injuries and airlifted to a hospital. Their latest conditions have not been disclosed, as of Friday morning.
All other students were evaluated for injuries, and were released to their parents or on their way to school, the district added. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) blocked several lanes on Highway 36 from FM 522 to CR 354 as a result.
SEE ALSO: Fort Bend ISD school bus with students onboard involved in crash in SW Houston
Columbia High School Junior, Paul Fulkerson, was on the school bus, sound asleep, when it collided with a dump truck on the way to school Thursday morning.
“I was asleep and then all I heard was the screeching of the brakes and we hit the dump truck,” he said. “I woke up and I heard everybody saying get out, get off the bus! I saw that it was smoking. I thought it was going to catch on fire. Everybody was trying to get out real quick.”
DPS is investigating the crash. At this time, charges have not been filed.
This crash comes nearly a week after a driver hit a Fort Bend ISD school bus on Fondren and Chasewind in southwest Houston. Fortunately, no injuries were reported during that crash.