South Carolina High School Bus Crash Injures NC Students

A South Carolina high school bus crash left several injured Sunday morning, including two in serious condition, CBS News reported.

The incident occurred when the northbound charter bus carrying students and adult chaperons from the Beddingfield High School chorus from Wilson, North Carolina, careened off the road, through a barricade and onto the southbound lanes before coming to rest in an embankment.

The bus was on its way home to North Carolina from a trip to Florida when the crash took place at around 1:04 a.m. on Interstate 95 in Colleton County, CBS affiliate WCSC-TV reported.

Colleton-Fire Rescue Chief Barry McRoy said that 11 people were rushed to a local hospital, followed shortly later by six more students requiring medical treatment for minor injuries.

Beddingfield High School later said in a post to Facebook that those injured in the crash "should be fine" and would be returning home soon.

McRoy confirmed that most of the students had been taken home by another bus sent by the charter bus company, and that just the two patients admitted to the hospital had stayed behind with the school's principal and a second adult.

"They were very fortunate," McRoy said, according to WCSC-TV. "There were two large trees near where the bus landed and if they'd gone just a few feet further over, they would have hit those trees head-on."

An unnamed trucker reportedly stepped in to assist at the scene, and staff from the Colleton Medical Center opened up the hospital's cafeteria to serve them breakfast, the school noted.

"Walterboro, SC is a special place," Beddingfield High School said on Facebook, adding that, "knowing how bad it could have been," the students were "protected."

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