MANCHESTER, NH — A school bus transporting Pelham student-athletes and two coaches was involved in an accident with a pick-up truck Monday night on the I-293 on-ramp in Manchester.
At about 7:20 p.m. on May 13 first responders were dispatched to the scene where they encountered the aftermath of a collision between a pick-up truck and a school bus carrying 30 students and two coaches.
At the time of the collision, the two vehicles came to rest 350 yards apart, with the truck in the high-speed lane and the bus further south in the breakdown lane, requiring fire and EMS to respond to two separate accident scenes.
The driver of the pick-up truck was trapped inside the truck with his legs pinned under the dashboard, requiring him to be cut from the wreckage. That took about 20 minutes to complete. The truck driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The school bus was transporting 30 middle and high school players from a softball and a baseball team, on their way home from a game in Weare. All students were evaluated by medics from Manchester Fire Department and AMR. It was determined that two students sustained some bruises from the force of the collision.
None of the students were transported to the hospital. Another bus was summoned and the students were safely transferred onto this bus and sent on their way back to their school.
The accident remains under investigation.
District Fire Chief Mike Gamache gave credit to the bus driver for her skillful handling of the bus.
“I commend the driver of the school bus for keeping the bus upright and on the roadway after this violent collision with the pickup truck. If she were not able to control this bus, injuries to the students could have been much more severe considering the road conditions and the volume of traffic,” according to Gamache.
