Bus with students in crash in north-central Ill.

LOSTANT -- A charter bus carrying students of Dunlap High School collided with a semi-trailer truck late Wednesday in LaSalle County, resulting in minor injuries.

Peoria Charter Coach president Bill Winkler told the Peoria Journal Star the truck jackknifed in front of the bus and the two vehicles collided.

Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Paris Ervin says the collision occurred on Interstate 39 near the village of Lostant. At least two vehicles including the bus were involved in the collision, which occurred on an icy road, although it was too early to speculate on a cause, Ervin said.

Bus passengers were taken to three area hospitals, said a dispatcher at the LaSalle County sheriff's office. Nursing supervisors at the hospitals said the victims were treated and released.

Winkler said the bus was coming from Chicago with a group of 40 people, all Dunlap students and a chaperone. Dunlap is located north of Peoria. Winkler said he didn't know the purpose of the trip.

Staff at St. Margaret's Hospital in Spring Valley treated 13 students, said a nursing supervisor who only identified herself as Doris. She declined to describe the injuries or patients.

Twenty-three students were taken to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru, where a nursing supervisor said they were attended to by emergency room personnel and released.

A woman who answered the telephone at St. Mary's Hospital in Streator declined to comment.

The interstate was closed until the wrecked vehicles were removed. Lostant is located about 40 miles north of Bloomington.

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