#2 dead, including child, in Texas school bus crash

Two people, including a child, were killed and at least 10 others were injured when a school bus carrying pre-K students crashed in rural Texas on Friday, authorities said.

They were killed when a bus and a concrete truck collided along State Highway 21 about 50 miles east of Austin, said Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Deon Cockrell.

A boy on the bus was killed, and the other victim was in a Dodge Charger that had been following the bus when it was hit by an oncoming concrete truck, he said.

Four of those injured were taken to hospitals by helicopter and in critical condition, said Kevin Parker, a commander at Austin-Travis County EMS. Six others taken to hospitals by ground ambulance had potentially serious injuries, he said.

Eric Wright, the superintendent of Hays Consolidated Independent School District, remarked on the tragedy Saturday. “There are no words that can express my sorrow for the student’s family, the Tom Green Elementary School family, and our greater Hays CISD community,” he said in a letter to the community. “I am also saddened to learn of the death of a person who was driving a car that was on the road behind our bus. This is a horrible and tragic day for our school district. We continue to pray for everyone affected, those still in the hospital, and their loved ones.”

Cockrell said state traffic investigators were investigating the cause of the accident, including why the concrete truck appeared to veer into oncoming traffic. The bus rolled over, authorities said.

The Hays Consolidated Independent School District said in a statement that the bus was carrying Tom Green Elementary pre-K students returning from a field trip to the Capital of Texas Zoo in Cedar Creek, about 22 miles southeast of Austin.

It said 44 students and 11 adults were on the bus. The school is about 17 miles south of Austin. The district said its bus “was involved in a serious accident early this afternoon” and that “parents of students on the bus have been notified directly from the campus.”

Counselors and other district staff members were sent to the accident scene or to a reunification point set up for parents, the district said.

Gov. Greg Abbott said he and his wife, Cecilia Abbott, were saddened to hear about what happened, and he talked with the district’s superintendent “and offered the state’s full support as they help their community through this tragedy.”

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he’s praying for those who lost loved ones in the crash. “I am shocked and deeply saddened to hear about the school bus accident in Bastrop County today,” he said on social media platform X.

Authorities asked the public to avoid the area of the accident.