Eleven injured in school bus crash near Yacolt

Eleven people, including four Amboy Middle School students, were taken to area hospitals Tuesday following a three-vehicle crash near Yacolt that involved a school bus with 35 children on board.

The bus was southbound on Northeast Amboy Road when an oncoming sport utility vehicle sideswiped it. The SUV then crashed head-on into a pickup that was driving behind the bus, said Fire District 13 Chief Ben Peeler.

The pickup rolled, landing on its top next to the roadway. The crash occurred shorty before 1 p.m. on a curve in the road just south of Northeast 381st Street.

Four people in the pickup and three people in the SUV were injured and transported to area hospitals, Peeler said. Among those people, three were seriously injured. Four students on the bus had minor injuries, but were up and walking around the crash site. They also were taken to a hospital, Peeler said.

In total, four ambulances, two from North Country EMS and two from American Medical Response, transported everyone who was injured.

A Battle Ground Public Schools nurse arrived on site to evaluate the remaining students, Peeler said. A couple of kids bumped their heads against the school bus windows, he said.

Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies investigated the crash, and a commercial vehicle trooper with the Washington State Patrol inspected the bus. Fire District 10 and Fire District 3 also assisted.

Battle Ground Public Schools spokesman Sean Chavez said the bus, shuttle bus 11, was headed from Amboy Middle School to Yacolt Primary School, which is its normal route.

A second bus responded to transport the students to the primary school, where parents picked up their kids, Chavez said.

Both of the schools were on an early release schedule for parent-teacher conferences, Chavez said.

Amboy Road reopened around the start of the evening commute, said Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Neiman.