Litchfield Fire Department and Illinois State police responded about 4:30 p.m. Monday to a crash involving a school bus and semi truck on southbound Interstate 55 about five miles north of Litchfield, IL.
Illinois State Police and local fire rescue personnel and at least one medical helicopter responded to the scene at mile marker 58. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department is reporting numerous injuries.
The bus was transporting eight adults and 33 students — 6th graders from Grantfork Upper Elementary — when it apparently rear-ended a semi-trailer truck. The students and several adults were on the way home from a field trip in Springfield, IL.
A total of 11 people were taken to at least four hospitals.
Seven students were initially transported to St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield. Two students were then airlifted to SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis. One female student suffered a broken leg that required surgery.
The driver of the school bus and at least one student were transported to Springfield Hospital.
Several students with non-life threatening injuries were transported to Hillsboro Area Hospital.
The southbound lanes of I-55 were shut down Monday afternoon. The crash scene occurred about 40 miles north of the home of Grantfork Upper Elementary School in Highland, Illinois.