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U.S. NEWS Friday 18 May 2018
School bus ripped apart in dump truck crash, killing 2

MOUNT OLIVE, N.J. (AP) — according to the Federal
A school bus taking chil- Motor Carrier Safety Ad-
dren on a field trip to a New ministration. Its trucks have
Jersey historic site collided been in seven crashes in
with a dump truck Thurs- the last two years, none
day, ripping the bus apart before Thursday's fatal, ac-
and killing a teacher and cording to FMCSA. A mes-
student. sage left with the company
The crash left the bus lying wasn't returned. Mendez
on its side on the guardrail has a higher than average
of Interstate 80 in Mount vehicle out-of-service rate,
Olive, its undercarriage which means inspections
and front end sheared off found violations which had
and its steering wheel ex- to be corrected before the
posed. Some of the victims vehicle could be returned
crawled out of the emer- to service. Mendez's rate
gency exit in the back and was 37.9 percent, accord-
an escape hatch on the ing to FMCSA. The nation-
roof. More than 40 people al average is 20.7. "It's an
were taken to area hospi- alarmingly high accident
tals. rate for such a small, little
"I heard a scraping sound fleet," said trucking safety
and we toppled over the expert Paul Herbert, who
highway," said fifth-grade Emergency personnel work at the scene of a school bus and dump truck collision, injuring mul- runs the Western Motor
student Theo Ancevski, who tiple people, on Interstate 80 in Mount Olive, N.J., Thursday, May 17, 2018. Carrier Safety Institute in
was sitting in the fourth row California.q
of the bus and was treated states including New Jersey
at a hospital for cuts and require them.
scrapes. "A lot of people The bus was one of three
were screaming and hang- taking students from East
ing from their seatbelts." Brook Middle School to Wa-
New Jersey Gov. Phil Mur- terloo Village, a historic site
phy said that one adult depicting a Lenape Indian
and one student were community and once-thriv-
killed. Murphy said the truck ing port about 5 miles from
driver was hospitalized, but the crash scene. The other
officials didn't reveal his buses made it to the site,
condition. but returned to the school
The front end of the red about 50 miles (80 kilome-
dump truck was mangled ters) away.
in the wreck, which took Some of the children were
place about 50 miles (80 ki- inside the bus and some
lometers) west of New York. outside when first respond-
The truck was registered to ers arrived, according to
Mendez Trucking, of Bel- Jeff Paul, director of the
leville, and had "In God We Morris County Office of
Trust" emblazoned on the Emergency Management.
back of it. "We had patients laying all
Police didn't release de- over the median and on
tails of how the crash hap- the interstate," Paul said.
pened, but the trucking "There were all kinds of in-
company had a string of juries, every injury type you
crashes in recent years and could expect in a crash of
a higher than average rate his magnitude."
of violations that sidelined Paul said some of the first
its vehicles, according to responders were "very
federal safety data. emotionally upset. It was a
There were 45 people, in- rough scene to see."
cluding 38 students, on the Thuy Nguyen, a nurse from
bus. Forty-three people Paramus, said she rushed
from the bus and the truck to the school where her
driver were taken to three son was taking a test after
area hospitals, where some hearing the news.
were listed in critical con- "My heart just dropped,
dition. The bus was owned You hear the name of the
by the school district and school..." she said before
had seat belts, according trailing off.
to Paramus schools superin- Robinson said that the dis-
tendent Michele Robinson. trict was cancelling school
There is no federal require- trips for the rest of the year.
ment for seat belts on full- Mendez Trucking has
sized school buses, but six about 40 drivers and trucks,