Driver, 16 children injured in bus accident

A bus driver and 16 children on a field trip to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park were injured Wednesday afternoon when their bus went off the road and into a ditch.

Three children were moderately injured on their heads, chests and faces, and 13 suffered bumps, cuts and bruises, said Gale Blomenkamp, spokesman for the Boone County Fire Protection District, which treated the injured at the scene. All 17 of the injured were transported to University Hospital and Boone Hospital Center, including the 40-year-old bus driver.

The children — all about 9 years old — were summer campers from the Jefferson City Area YMCA. The bus was carrying 45 people to the Devil’s Icebox when the accident occurred.

Although the bus left the road, ran over a driveway and into a ditch, it stayed on its wheels, “though (the passengers) got bounced around pretty bad,” Blomenkamp said.

The children who were not injured were transported to University Hospital in a bus provided by the Columbia Fire Department, he said. There, parents were able to pick up their children.

Craig Lammers, Jefferson City Area YMCA executive director, declined to comment on the incident.

Blomenkamp said the Missouri State Highway Patrol was investigating the accident. The trooper who was at the scene was not available Wednesday afternoon.