Principal praises emergency crews after school bus crash that hurt 5 kids - The London Free Press

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OXFORD COUNTY – Four of the five children hurt in a school bus rollover near Woodstock have been released from hospital, police said Wednesday, as their school’s principal thanked emergency crews for their efforts at the crash scene.

Woodstock Christian School’s principal, Mike Vander Kooi, said in a Wednesday statement to The Free Press that the five kids and driver were “recovering from their injuries” suffered in the single-vehicle crash that happened at about 8 a.m. Tuesday.

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“We want to thank all the first responders who took care of our students in the moments after the accident,” Vander Kooi said. “We also want to thank those who have reached out to support us with words of encouragement and prayer.”

“Our students and bus driver are recovering from the injuries they sustained and we thank God that the injuries are not serious in nature.”

Ontario Provincial Police have said there were about 40 kids aboard the bus en route to the JK-Grade 8 school when it rolled over and crashed into a field at the rural Cuthbert Road-Dodge Line intersection, south of Woodstock and east of Ingersoll. Police told CTV London a person from a nearby farmhouse helped the children in the immediate aftermath.

Crews right a school bus that rolled with about 40 pupils aboard at a rural intersection near Woodstock about 8 a.m. Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Five kids were taken to hospital, one by air ambulance. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)

The 34-year-old bus driver from Oxford County is charged under the Highway Traffic Act with careless driving causing bodily harm, Ontario Provincial Police say. The driver’s name has not been made public.

Four kids were taken to nearby hospitals, and one was flown to London hospital after being pinned under the bus, police said. Wednesday, Oxford OPP Const. Randi Crawford said she was unsure of the status of the child flown to London hospital but said the other four had been sent home.

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Bernie Gray, whose business is about 800 metres away from the crash site, recalled speaking to a lot of the parents as they arrived in the immediate aftermath.

“There was a lot of parents down. They were all shook up at first,” he told Canadian Press. “The biggest thing is it scared the living hell out of all the kids.”

Gray said he could see the school bus on its entry-door side, but police turned him away before he could venture any closer.

The accused is scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Woodstock on April 18.

bwilliams@postmedia.com
@BrianWatLFPress
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

— With files from Canadian Press

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Principal praises emergency crews after school bus crash that hurt 5 kids - The London Free Press
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