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by Mary Grace Armistead
One person is dead after a vehicle crashed head-on with a Pender County Schools bus carrying students to Heide Trask High School Tuesday morning, according to North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
District officials said Bus 243 was traveling along Highway 53 in the Maple Hill area when the crash happened around 7:30 a.m. More than 20 students and the bus driver were on board at the time.
Troopers said the bus had just left the Maple Hill community and was en route to the school when a Ford traveling east crossed left of center and struck the bus head-on. The driver of the Ford was pronounced dead at the scene, according to NCSHP.
No life-threatening injuries were reported among the students or the bus driver, Pender County Schools said.
Out of an abundance of caution, 23 students and the bus driver were transported to Pender Memorial Hospital for medical evaluations. School and district administrators accompanied the students. All students and the driver have since been released from the hospital, the district said. One student was released at the scene.
State troopers and multiple emergency agencies responded to what officials described as a chaotic scene.
“I was about three miles down the road and was one of the first ones there,” said First Sgt. Casteen with State Highway Patrol Troop B. “As you can expect, it was chaotic.”
Casteen said six state troopers, numerous Pender County Sheriff’s Office deputies, fire departments and incident management crews responded to the crash. “It was an all-hands-on-deck situation,” he said.
Highway 53 was shut down in both directions between NC-50 and Shaw Highway, impacting commuters in both Pender and Onslow counties. The road reopened shortly before noon after being closed for nearly five hours.
Pender County Schools said it will continue providing updates to families as additional verified information becomes available.
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