A multi-vehicle accident involving a school bus left a young girl dead and another injured Wednesday afternoon.
The Collin County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of a collision on the FM 3286 bridge near Lavon Lake at 3:44 p.m. on January 31. When deputies arrived, they found four vehicles involved in the incident: a sedan, a work truck, a jeep, and a Princeton ISD school bus, according to WFAA.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers determined that the incident occurred as a chain reaction as each vehicle traveled eastbound. Officials say that the Jeep collided with the rear of the sedan, causing both vehicles to spin out on the narrow, two-lane bridge.
These vehicles then struck the school bus and the truck.
“Traffic was backed up at the time,” said Seargent Kyle Bradford of the DPS, per WFAA. “Obviously, we’re still doing the investigation to find out if there was something else involved that caused that Jeep to run into the back of that vehicle.” The bridge was shut down for four hours following the incident.
Nine high school students were on board the bus at the time of the crash, but none were injured in the collision, according to NBC DFW. However, first responders on the scene confirmed that a minor in the backseat of the sedan was killed in the collision.
The child was reportedly a third-grade student from Lovejoy ISD, but authorities have not confirmed those reports, according to the Princeton Herald. Bradford said that the girl’s parent, who was driving the sedan at the time of the crash, was injured and was transported to a local hospital.
The driver of the Jeep was also injured and taken to the hospital.
Chief Steve Gammons of the Princeton Fire Department Battalion told WFAA that he was ending his shift when he was called to the scene, describing it as “one of the most terrifying calls” for a traffic accident, given that this one involved a school bus that was occupied.
“One wrong move, and they could be off the bridge,” said Gammons, per WFAA. “We could be looking at a totally different situation with lake rescues.”
Officials are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.
This tragedy is the second deadly North Texas collision involving a school bus this week. Surveillance footage captured a collision between a motorcyclist and a Fort Worth ISD school bus early Tuesday morning, which resulted in the death of the biker, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
