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May 8, 2008 1:56 pm US/Pacific
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12 Students Hurt In Yosemite School Bus Collision
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) ―
Twelve sixth-grade students and a parent were injured in a school bus collision on a popular route into Yosemite National Park Thursday, park officials said.
The children from Yolo Middle School in Newman were traveling to Yosemite for a day hike when their two buses collided at the end of a line of vehicles stopped along Highway 120, said park spokesman Scott Gediman.
One bus rear-ended the other just before 11 a.m. Thursday about a mile from Yosemite Valley, Gediman said.
"They were 10 minutes into the park, and the whole string of cars came to a stop faster than they anticipated and the driver wasn't able to stop fast enough," said Rick Fauss, Superintendent of Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District. "Our main responsibility has been to notify the families so they know where their kids are being taken."
The injured children and adults were being taken in ambulances to clinics and hospitals in Merced, Modesto and Yosemite Valley to be treated for minor to moderate back and neck injuries, Gediman said.
The uninjured children are being taken on a nature walk to Yosemite Fall as they wait for replacement buses to return them to Newman, Gediman said.
No other vehicles were involved in the collision, the cause of which is under investigation. Highway officials have already begun towing the damaged buses and are clearing the scene.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)