Seven teenagers have been left fighting for their lives after a bus overturned in Idaho. The school bus was carrying teenage campers when it overturned on the winding highway in Boise on Friday.
Idaho State Police say 11 people were injured in the crash. Seven were deemed to have critical injuries with four reported to be non-critical.
Coroner’s investigator Noah Webster said there were no fatalities as of 5.45pm local time. The bus was carrying 30 campers and staff back to Boise from the Treasure Valley YMCA’s camp at Horsethief Reservoir.
State police say the teens on the bus were aged between 13 and 18. They were all taken to the hospitals in the local area to be checked over.
The Valley County Sheriff’s Office said they were notified of the crash about 3 p.m, and several law enforcement and emergency medical agencies responded.
While St. Luke’s Health System was caring for multiple patients at its Boise and Meridian hospitals and was “working to reunite families,” said spokesperson Taylor Reeves Marschner.
Treasure Valley YMCA President and CEO David Duro said later Friday that it had been a very challenging afternoon but that all the campers, both on the bus that crashed and on a bus that was behind it, had made it back to the Boise area. The Sunday to Friday overnight camp session had just ended and he said riding the bus is normally a great part of the experience for campers.
“It’s one of those experiences that every child should be able to enjoy safely and I don’t know what happened,” he said. “All we’ve been told is that it’s under investigation.”
A YMCA camp where children can have a go at canoeing, archery, zip-lining and other outdoor activities opened in 2010 and is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of the crash site.
