Emergency responders are on the scene of a fatal accident on Interstate 70 West in Licking County, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023. An emergency official says a charter bus carrying students from a high school was rear-ended by a semi-truck on the Ohio highway. (WSYX/WTTE via AP)— (AP)
Four people reportedly are dead and another 15 are injured after a semi-truck rear ended a charter bus full of high school students in Ohio.
Licking County Emergency management director Sean Grady confirmed that three people were killed in the accident, which occurred outside Etna, Ohio, near the Smoke Road underpass, just east of Columbus.
Dispatchers classified the incident as a “mass casualty incident, level 3,” according to the Columbus Dispatch. The designation indicates that 10 or more people may have been injured and that paramedics, fire crews and hospital readiness will be needed in the region. “Casualty” in this use does not necessarily mean “death.”
The crash occurred around 8:15am. Those injured were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment.
The bus was carrying 57 band students from Tuscarawas Valley Schools, located approximately 120 miles northeast of Columbus and around 43 miles south of Akron. The district’s superintendent, Derek Varansky, confirmed Tuesday that the crash involved students from the school.
The accident shut-down parts of I-70 at State Route 310 and westbound at State Route 158.
A pair of school busses — accompanied by police escorts — arrived at the scene of the crash approximately two hours after the impact. Several dozen people from the crash scene climbed on board and were taken away from the site approximately twenty minutes after the buses arrived.
There were reportedly 57 people in total on board the charter bus, according to the Associated Press.
