Investigation continues into school bus accident that killed four

Classes had just let out for the day at the Lakeview School District in Cottonwood when the accident happened.

A bus from the district with 28 students and the driver left town on Highway 23. A van was approaching the highway from the bus driver's right side. Sgt. Kathy Pederson with the Minnesota State Patrol said all three vehicles were involved in the fatal accident near Cottonwood.

"The school bus was southbound on Highway 23. The van was eastbound on county road 24," said Pederson. "The van than ran into the side of the school bus, the right side of the school bus, and then the school bus fell over on it's left side onto the pickup."

Pederson said 14 people were injured in the accident, several critically.

Karen Mahlum of Sacred Heart was driving on the highway about a quarter mile away from the school bus when the accident happened. She said she saw a cloud of dirt fly up into the air. Then she saw scraps of metal on the highway.

When she reached the overturned bus she stopped to help. The bus driver handed children down to her from the vehicle's escape door, a door in the roof of the vehicle which now faced the horizon like a window in a wall.

"Some of them had a little blood on them. A lot of them crying that their head hurt, their arms; they were crying they wanted their mommies and daddies," said Mahlum. "They had a sister or brother on the bus that they wanted to get off the bus. A lot of real emotional stuff."

Mahlum said the children were told to wait in the nearby road ditch. She said there were other children unconscious in the back of the bus that she and the driver couldn't reach.

Mahlum said other people stopped to help. Some brought blankets to wrap the children in. A cold front with blustery winds had moved through the area just before the accident.

"It's just like a lot of wonderful people trying to help however they can," said Mahlum. "But it was a lot of chaos. I know that there were fatalities today. I feel very bad for the families that have to find out that their child died today."

It was the second school bus accident in the Cottonwood area in recent years. About two years ago a bus was rear ended, but no one was injured.

State Patrol officials plan another news briefing this afternoon on the fatal accident.

Classes at the Lakeview School District in Cottonwood have been canceled for today.