Bus Full Of Students Plunges Down Ravine

Buses are one mode of transportation where typically the only person who wears a seatbelt is the driver of the bus. In 2015 fatal accidents involving buses made up only slightly over 4% of all fatal accidents. Still, there were 257 fatal bus crashes that claimed 49 occupant fatalities. 14,000 bus crashes in 2015 caused injuries. WRBL reports on an accident involving a tour bus carrying band members from a Texas high school that claimed the bus driver’s life.

At least nine people were hospitalized and the driver killed when a bus carrying members of a Texas high school marching band drove into a ravine.

The accident occurred Tuesday morning at around 5:30 a.m. The driver, identified as Harry Caligone, had been on the job as a bus driver for 20-plus years. The last 15 had been spent with the same company.

First responders had to rappel down 50ft into the ravine in order to reach some students who were trapped.

40 students and six adults were on board the bus. At least 37 of those passengers, most of them teenagers, were treated at local hospitals.

The bus was chartered by Channelview High School and had been returning from Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida when the accident occurred.

Authorities aren’t sure what caused the accident. One student said that he heard a big “bump” and the band director saying “Harry” a couple of times before the incident.

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