Van Buren school bus in head-on wreck

KEOSAUQUA ? A Van Buren Community School District bus carrying 35 prekindergarten through sixth-grade students was involved in a head-on collision at about 8 a.m. today.

According to a press release from the Van Buren County Sheriff?s Office, 47-year-old Steven J. Duke was driving a school bus north on County Route V64 between Lebanon and Douds when it collided head-on with a southbound Ford Taurus driven by a 17-year-old male from Douds. The sheriff?s office did not release the teen?s name this morning.

Van Buren school district superintendent Lisa Beames said the car apparently crossed the centerline.

Beames said the teenage driver was not currently a student at Van Buren. She believed he is attending school in the Davis County district this year.

The press release states the teenager was transported to the Van Buren County Hospital for serious injuries and then flown to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

?The condition of the driver of the car is not known by us at this time,? said Beames.

Multiple sheriff and medical support assisted at the scene. Health professionals evaluated the students and the bus. Twelve students were taken by ambulance to the Van Buren County Hospital, and the remainder were transferred to a different bus and taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, and they were released from the hospital to their parents.

?No student injuries appear to be significant at this time,? said Beames. ?At least three have returned to school.?

Both the sheriff?s press release and Beames said the bus driver was not injured.

?We got lucky,? said Beames. ?This isn?t a favorite road for bus drivers, but it is a route we have to drive.?

?Van Buren Community Schools would like to thank the Van Buren Sheriff?s Office and the Van Buren County Hospital, along with all of the volunteers in assisting us with this incident,? said Beames.