School bus loaded with kids overturns on Rt. 80 — serious injuries

MOUNT OLIVE — A crash involving a school bus loaded with fifth grade students and a dump truck on Route 80 left at least 10 people hospitalized Thursday morning.

[UPDATE: 1 student, 1 adult dead in bus crash]

The accident left the cabin of the school bus detached from the bottom and its tires.

RLS Metro Breaking News reported children were being taken from the bus through the roof. An unknown number of children and adults were on the bus and in the truck.

The bus was carrying students from East Brook Middle School on a class trip to Waterloo Village in Stanhope

Mount Olive Mayor Rob Greenbaum watched the “massive" police, fire and EMS response from the surrounding towns, Morris County and the state from an overpass and described it as a "horrific scene."

“The top of the bus actually disconnected from the drive train. The top of the school bus is kind of pitching on a 45-degree angle in the median," Greenbaum told New Jersey 101.5.

Paramus Mayor Richard LaBarbiera had a single  comment on his Facebook page about the incident: "Prayers..."

An NBC report, citing a picture the station obtained, described the front of the bus as "barely recognizable, a mangled chunk of broken-apart machinery spread from the highway shoulder lane through the median."

Earlier the Roxbury School District issued an alert that the bus was not from its district.

All lanes on Route 80  were closed at exit 25 for Route 206 around 10:30 a.m. in Mount Olive, according to New Jersey Fast Traffic's Bob Williams. Weather conditions made it difficult to fly medical helicopters into the area, according to Williams.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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