School Bus Crash in Georgia Kills 5-Year-Old, Injures 22 Children

Stock photo of police tape. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

Officials said that a 5-year-old girl died and 22 other children were injured when a school bus hit a tree near Hinesville, Georgia.

The Georgia State Patrol said that 5-year-old Cambra Shuman died in the accident, WSAV reported. The driver, Evelyn Rodriguez, 62, was rushed to Memorial Health in Savannah.

Liberty County EMA Deputy Director Larry Logan said that the bus was going down Ray Road toward Highway 196 when it went off the road and into a ditch, WTOC reported.

“Winn Army Community Hospital is responding to a bus accident on Highway 196 and Ray Road near the Gumbranch area,” Winn Army Community Hospital said in a statement. It said that it’s caring for 13 patients, and “all of the children who have been received here have come in attentive and alert” before adding in an update that “all 13 of the students have been discharged from Winn Army Community Hospital.”

The children on the bus were between the ages of 5 and 12, officials said.

“Upon impact, the roof of the bus caved in on the occupants,” Georgia State Patrol told the Atlanta Journal-Consitution newspaper. Rodriguez was trapped in the bus after the accident, and she was later freed.

In a statement, the Liberty County School System confirmed the crash.

“This morning a Liberty County school bus was involved in a single vehicle accident, which resulted in one student fatality. Our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family in their time of grief. The remaining students and driver were transported to local hospitals. Grief counselors have been made available to all students and staff. The bus accident is currently under investigation by the Georgia State Patrol,” the statement reads, per WTOC.

“The Liberty County School System asks the community to join them in continued thoughts, prayers and support for all individuals affected by today’s accident.”

Other details about the crash are unclear.

The crash took place around 50 miles southwest of Savannah and about 235 miles southeast of Atlanta.