3 die when bus winds up in canal

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A church bus filled with teens was hit by an SUV and ran off a highway, plunging into a canal and killing three people, police said Sunday.

The bus, carrying about 25 people from First Baptist Church at Hillsboro in Coconut Creek, was submerged in about 16 feet of water.

Police said the bus was returning from an Orlando-area theme park late Saturday when the accident happened a few miles from its destination along a section of Florida’s Turnpike that has no side guardrails.

A Ford Explorer had a blowout and hit the bus, running it off the road and into the canal at about 10 p.m., police said.