Shannon Wigfield, Katelyn Owens, Jeffery Worrell Car Accident Ohio: In loving memory of 6 killed in tragic Tuesday morning crash on Interstate 70 in Licking County.
On a Tuesday morning, a semitruck rear-ended a charter bus carrying high school students on an Ohio highway, injuring 18 people and killing six, according to officials.
According to Sean Grady, director of the Licking County Emergency Management Agency, five vehicles were involved in the collision, one of which was a Pioneer Trails charter bus that was transporting students and chaperones from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported Tuesday night that three people were pronounced dead at the site from the bus, which was carrying 54 students and chaperones in addition to the driver. The individuals were recognized as John W. Mosely, 18, Jeffery D. Worrell, 18, and Katelyn N. Owens, 15.
According to officials, several pupils were escorted to a reunification site, while a total of 15 students and the bus driver were taken to local hospitals.
According to the highway patrol, the three occupants of one of the passenger cars involved were also declared deceased at the spot. They were recognized as Shannon Wigfield, 45, of Bolivar; Kristy Gaynor, 39, of Zoar; and Dave Kennat, 56, of Navarre.
The other passenger vehicle’s driver was also sent to a medical facility. According to the highway patrol, two of the drivers of the commercial vehicles involved received treatment at the spot, while the other was transported to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
At approximately nine in the morning, a chain-reaction crash occurred as all of the automobiles were going westbound on Interstate 70 in Licking County, approximately 26 miles (42 kilometers) east of Columbus. Following that, the highway patrol reported that at least three automobiles caught fire. The cause of the collision is being looked into. An investigative team from the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to the location.
According to Tuscarawas Valley Superintendent Derek Varansky, the bus was transporting the students and chaperones to a meeting held in Columbus by the Ohio School Boards Association.
“This is our worst nightmare, when we have a bus full of children involved in a crash,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said during a news conference. “Prayers go out to the families, everyone who was on the bus.”