MANSFIELD – At least nine students of Marysville High School in Union County were injured in a crash involving a semi truck and a school bus on Friday.
Nine students and the Marysville Schools bus driver were taken to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital with non-life threatening injuries after a semi truck rear-ended the bus Friday afternoon on Interstate 71 South of U.S. 30, according to Lt. Robert Sellers of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
“Honestly, it felt like something exploded,” said Marysville assistant principal Scott Stackhouse.
The bus, driven by James Lemaster, 64, of Marysville, was taking the 45 students and three adults home from a visit to the Ohio State Reformatory when the incident occurred.
The driver of the semi truck, Jean Braeckel, of Ontario, Canada, was cited for failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead.
The students who weren’t injured were taken by an RCT bus and a van to the Der Dutchman restaurant in Bellville where another bus from Marysville was to meet them. Another EMS crew met students at the restaurant who needed additional medical attention.
“It was just loud,” one student said about the crash.
All the students on the bus were seniors.
Additional agencies, including Mifflin Township Fire and EMS and the Ohio Department of Transportation, assisted the Ohio State Highway Patrol at the crash.
OhioHealth Mansfield has set up a phone number for parents and guardians to ask about their children. They should call 419-520-2798.
