Truck Hits Bus; Dozens Injured

A school bus hit by a tractor-trailer over-turned and hit a light pole on Monday. A 5-year-old girl was seriously hurt; the driver and 22 children suffered minor injuries.

The truck hit the bus, “then we went to flipping and sliding across” the road, said 14-year-old James Atcheson. After the bus stopped, “I grabbed my sister and threw her out.”

The tractor-trailer, loaded with cotton seed, was northbound behind the bus on U.S. 65, about three miles north of Tallulah, when the bus driver began to slow down to turn right, state police Sgt. Melvin Cottingham said.

The truck plowed into the back of the bus, pushing it about 50 feet.