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10/17/2005
5 Die as school band bus crashes into truck

Wisconsin jack-knife leaves 30 injured Girl, 11, bus driver, three adults, killed Four adults and an 11-year-old child were killed yesterday when a bus carrying high school band members hit a tractortrailer on an interstate highway in Wisconsin, police said. The Wisconsin Highway Patrol said the dead were the bus driver, three adults travelling with the band as it returned from a competition and an 11year-old girl also on the bus.

Police indicated earlier in the day that some of the band members from Chippewa Falls High School in northwest Wisconsin were among the dead but said later no students from the school were killed. About 30 people, including some students, were injured in the accident on Interstate 94 at about 2 a.m. local time near the city of Eau Claire.

Local media reports in Wisconsin said it appeared the truck, travelling in the same direction as the chartered bus, jack-knifed after the driver strayed into the median and tried to get back on the road. "I don`t know how much opportunity there was for braking action," Wisconsin State Patrol Capt. Douglas Notbohm said. The bus slammed into the overturned truck, but it didn`t roll or catch fire, patrol spokesman Brent Pickard said.

Pictures from the scene showed the front of the bus was heavily damaged but remained upright, while the truck cab was on its side nearby. "It`s a terrific tragedy and loss to our school and community," said Chippewa Falls schools superintendent Mike Schoch. "Our community is stunned by it." Schoch said the bus was one of four returning from a band competition carrying about 140 students, chaperones, staff members and others. Four students and three adults remained hospitalized yesterday night with injuries including broken hips, arms and legs and punctured lungs. Many had undergone surgery, but all were expected to recover, Schoch said.