DANVILLE, Pa. — Early Thursday morning, a school bus filled with 11 middle schoolers went off an embankment.
Residents who saw the bus crash this morning say a combination of bad weather, low visibility, and unfamiliarity with the area could've all played a role in sending that bus off the road and into a creek.
It was a little before sunrise when Myles Koser noticed his bus had taken a wrong turn.
"The bus was coming down, and it miss turned into my yard, went to back up and went forward again, and just fell in the creek," the seventh grader said.
The bus from Fishing Creek Transportation was headed to Danville Area Middle School, carrying 11 students, when it went over an embankment.
"I knew one of them at the time who was on the bus; one of them was shook up like kind of crying," Koser added.
Upon learning of the crash, school officials made sure both the students and the substitute bus driver were OK.
"There were absolutely no injuries that we are aware of at this time. Obviously, we had our school personnel nurses and counselors touch base and make sure all the kids that we're in school were checked upon during the day to make sure that they were OK, said Jason Moser, Assistant Superintendent.
Residents say whether it's morning or nighttime, if it's dark out, the roads can be pretty hard to navigate.
"Cars have come down through our yard in the dark; they think the road is before the actual road, and they've come down through our yard before," said Harley Foust, who was with her brother Myles when the bus crashed.
She says if you're not familiar with the area, a combination of bad weather and low visibility could, in this case, send you right off the road.
"It can be hard if you're not familiar. He was a substitute bus driver; he wasn't their normal bus driver, so not familiar with the route, not familiar with the roads, and I think it being dark could have all played into the accident," Foust added.
That bus driver was cited with a traffic violation.
Danville Area School District officials say the accident is still being investigated, and they are just happy that nobody was hurt.
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