Students hurt in school bus crash
Fourteen people were treated for minor injuries Saturday afternoon after a bus on its way to a high school marching band competition rear-ended another in front of it, authorities said.
The buses, both carrying members of the Bolingbrook High School band, were heading north on Route 53 with two others when the accident occurred near Higgins Road in Schaumburg.
The band was scheduled to perform at 6:15 p.m. Saturday in the Phantom Regiment's band festival at Harlem High near Rockford, according to a band Web site.
The accident, which was called in to authorities at 2:20 p.m., stalled the four band buses for more than an hour.
Eight passengers were taken to area hospitals -- four to Northwest Community in Arlington Heights and two each to St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates and Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Anderson said.
Six others were treated at the scene in a roadside triage center. Several students wore neck braces; others pressed ice packs to their necks.
Anderson said most of the injuries involved neck pain.
The school buses were traveling together when one rear-ended the other. Two other buses, one traveling in front and one behind, were not involved in the accident.
Authorities did not offer specific details about the cause of the crash Saturday.
A witness traveling with the band said there had been a van in front of the first bus that the driver tried to avoid. That, she said, triggered a chain reaction with the other buses trying to avoid the first.
Other witnesses declined comment. An adult with the group said he'd been told no one could speak to the media.
The accident, which occurred on a stretch of road already jammed because of construction, slowed traffic to a crawl as passers-by gawked.
Most of the band members remained inside the buses, sticking their heads out for fresh air as chaperones gave them updates. Some milled about on the grassy slope of the highway entrance ramp, making calls on cell phones.
The Illinois State Police and crews from Elk Grove Village, Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg responded to the scene, tending to injured students on tarps laid out along the highway shoulder.
A backup bus was being sent to replace the one that had rear-ended the other, Anderson said, just in case the first bus was damaged. That bus is being inspected.