RUSHVILLE, Ill. — Authorities have identified the five people killed in a fiery crash, including both the drivers and three children, when a school bus and a truck collided along a highway in western Illinois.
The eastbound Schuyler-Industry Schools bus crossed the center line onto westbound U.S. Route 24 “for an unknown reason” Monday and came into the path of a semi-truck carrying sand, Illinois State Police said, citing preliminary findings .
Both vehicles “went up in flames” when the truck crashed into the bus around 11:30 a.m. in Rushville, a community of about 3,000 in Schuyler County about 60 miles west of Springfield, state police said. All four people on board the bus – three children and the driver – were killed, as was the truck driver.
The three children were identified by the Schuyler County coroner as 5-year-old Maria Miller, 3-year-old Andrew Miller and 3-year-old Noah Driscoll, all of Rushville, state police said. The school bus driver was identified as Angela Spiker, 57, of Rushville, and the truck driver as David Coufal, 72, of Browning, Illinois.
The county coroner said autopsies would be performed on the bodies of the victims in Springfield.
Schuyler County Sheriff Bill Redshaw told reporters Monday that the tragedy had hit the small, close-knit community particularly hard.
“There aren’t really any words that can be said at this point,” he said. “When you lose a life like that, it’s devastating.”
Schuyler-Industry Schools canceled classes Tuesday and Wednesday due to the crash.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that our school community has lost both staff and students in the traffic incident involving one of our school buses this morning,” the school district said in a statement.
The cause of the crash is being investigated by a team from the National Transportation Safety Board and state police, the Illinois agency announced.