Multiple media reports confirm a bus carrying 29 student athletes from a Johnson County Christian school was involved in a crash that injured eight children on Friday afternoon in northwestern Missouri.
The bus and student athletes were from Shawnee Mission Christian School, located at 4901 Mission Road in Westwood.
Shawnee Mission Christian School’s athletics calendar indicates that the boys soccer team and girls volleyball team were both traveling to away matches in St. Joseph, Missouri, for games on Friday.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the crash happened on northbound Interstate 29 just outside of Faucett, Missouri, at 3:35 p.m.
Faucett is located in southern Buchanan County, about 15 miles south of St. Joseph.
The crash scene was about 45 miles from the school.
Troopers said the injured juveniles range in age from 12 to 16.
The crash report published by the Missouri State Highway Patrol says that of the eight student athletes injured, only two, a 15-year-old female and a 16-year-old male, are said to have serious injuries.
A 44-year-old woman from Shawnee was another passenger, and she sustained what Troopers referred to as “moderate” injuries.
A 61-year-old man from Merriam was driving the bus, according to the crash report. The driver was the only occupant in a seat with a seat belt, and he was wearing it. He was not injured.
On Facebook, Ed Thompson, a pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in Merriam, identified himself as the driver, and shared a picture of the overturned bus at the accident scene.
“There were a few injuries, but God showed himself Merciful and Gracious! Everyone on board is now safely home with one 1 broken bone and few stitches, and a concussion or 2. It could have been so much worse,” Thompson wrote.
Five of the injured were transported by ambulances to North Kansas City Hospital, and the rest were taken to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph.
All of the injuries are said to be non-life-threatening.
The student athletes who were not injured were taken to a nearby fire station for their parents to pick them up, the News-Press reported.
The crash report states that the bus, a 2013 Ford F-550, was traveling northbound on Interstate 29 when the front passenger-side tire blew out, causing the bus to begin skidding. During the skid, the back passenger-side tire blew out, causing the bus to veer off the interstate to the right and into the ditch. The bus rolled onto the driver’s side in the ditch.
The northbound lanes of Interstate 29 were closed for several hours, reopening at about 7 p.m.
