A 16-year-old driver and six students were hospitalized on Friday afternoon after a minivan and school bus collided head-on in Marion County.
At around 2:20 p.m., the minivan was traveling northbound near the 12400 block of NW Highway 315. According to the Florida Highway Patrol incident report, two school buses were also traveling southbound on the same roadway, with one school bus directly in front of the other.
FHP stated that the minivan proceeded to cross the center line and veered into the oncoming lane. Moments later, the front of the van struck the front of the first school bus, and debris from the crash then collided with the second school bus.
Several Marion County Fire Rescue units were dispatched to the scene of the crash. When firefighters arrived, they immediately began extrication of the minivan’s driver and sole occupant, according to MCFR.
Once freed from the wreckage, the driver of the minivan was rushed to a local hospital as a trauma alert. A trooper noted in the FHP report that the driver’s injuries were “critical.”
MCFR crews set up triage to evaluate the students on both buses. The FHP report stated that a total of 69 students were on board, and six of the students were taken to the hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries.
The driver of the school bus involved in the head-on collision, identified in the report as a 24-year-old woman from Silver Springs, sustained minor injuries in the crash. The 26-year-old Ocala man who was driving the second school bus was not injured.
The names of the drivers involved in the crash were not released by the Florida Highway Patrol.