By Associated Press
Huntsville, AL – Officials in Huntsville say 12 students are still hospitalized after Monday's school bus crash. They say injuries include fractured elbows and damaged kidneys. Three students are in critical condition. The bus was carrying 40 high school students when it plowed through a guardrail on an interstate overpass and fell 30 feet, crashing headfirst to the ground below. Two students died on the scene of the accident. Another two died after being hospitalized. Officials say the driver is hospitalized with serious injuries, but somehow escaped the bus before the impact. Debbie Hersman, a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference last night that investigators had met with officials from Laidlaw, the bus operator, earlier in the day and learned that the vehicle was equipped with a video camera, but the last trip that was recorded was on November ninth. Witnesses say a car struck the bus before it swerved off the road. Police say the car was driven by a classmate of the students on the bus. Police say a criminal investigation is under way.