UPDATED: Grand Rapids Students Injured In Bus Crash Near Lengby

It’s a call parents never want to get: the news of a school bus crash with injuries.

“The Sanford Bagley ambulance crew did respond to this. We do have an ambulance department here in Bagley, so our team responded on scene and transported here to Bagley as well as, I believe, some patients, students were taken to Fosston as well,” says Lindsey Wangberg, spokeperson for Sanford Bagley.

Grand Rapids Schools Communication Coordinator Jessica Setness says the students were traveling to the Great Plains Youth Institute in Crookston when the bus driver reportedly lost control and crashed five miles outside of Bagley on Highway 2 near Lengby. The crash was reported to authorities at approximately 8:18 A.M. The bus rolled over a traveled a distance across the center median of the road. There were 22 students on the bus total plus the driver and a teacher.

“We got a call and it was from superintendent Kevin Ricky from Fosston, and he had told us that there was an accident and it had not involved Bagley or Fosston,” says Steve Cairns, superintendent for Bagley Public Schools.

Everyone was checked for injuries at the scene. Nine students were sent to Sanford Bagley Medical Center to be treated. The bus driver and 3 other students were sent to the Fosston hospital.  All injuries were minor, such as cuts and abrasions. Grand Rapids students who were not injured were taken to Bagley schools.

“We provided water and food for them and a classroom and kind of waited around until the transportation director from Grand Rapids came over and their parents,” says Cairns.

By around 1 in the afternoon, all students involved had been either picked up by their parents from the hospital or bused back to Grand Rapids from Bagley. Most involved say they’re just happy everyone is doing okay.

“We were just trying to help out. We would hope that if we would break down or have a problem in another school district, they would do the same for us as well. So, just trying to be a good neighbor,” says Cairns.

The cause of the accident is not known at this time.