PhotoBlog - bus-crash

School bus crashes into house after driver's 'medical emergency'

Update, Oct. 5, 2012: A school bus driver, who authorities said passed out behind the wheel and crashed into a house on Long Island, N.Y. while children were aboard, has been arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, according to police.

Original story: A school bus leaving a Catholic elementary school crashed into a house on Long Island Wednesday afternoon, NBCNewYork.com reports.

Syosset Fire Chief Peter Silver said the driver "had a medical emergency of some kind." Newsday reported that he was airlifted to a hospital in East Meadow, where he was admitted in a serious but stable condition.

The five children on the bus ranged in age from 5 to 8, but none was injured, police said. Read the full story at NBCNewYork.com.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

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China holiday crash kills five Germans as millions take to roads

Reuters reports — A bus struck a container truck near Beijing and burst into flames on Monday, killing five German tourists and a Chinese driver as motorists jammed roads at the start of a week-long holiday.

Fourteen people were injured in the mid-morning accident as the bus on the road linking the capital to the neighboring city of Tianjin ran into the back of the truck, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Police were investigating the cause. Read the full story.

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Vietnam passenger bus crash kills 34, dozens injured

Reuters reports — A passenger bus plunged into a river in Vietnam's Central Highlands at night killing 34 people and injuring at least 25 others, state-run newspapers reported on Friday.

The bus slammed into Serepok River on Thursday night while passing a bridge between Daklak and Dak Nong provinces, crushing many to death, the news website VNExpress quoted Daklak's Deputy Chairman Dinh Van Khiet as saying.

Traffic accidents killed more than 3,100 people nationwide in the first four months of 2012, down 30 percent from the same period last year, Vietnam News cited government data as showing. Read the full story.

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Belgian schoolchildren learn of bus crash that killed classmates

Yves Herman / Reuters

Relatives, parents and teachers arrive at the Sint Lambertus school in Belgium on March 14, 2012. A bus carrying children from the school crashed in a tunnel in Switzerland, killing 28 people.

Yorick Jansens / AFP - Getty Images

There was equal grief at the Stekske primary school in Lommel, Belgium, following news of the bus crash.

Reuters reports from Heverlee, Belgium — At morning assembly on Wednesday, the children of St Lambertus primary school in the Belgian town of Heverlee learnt of the bus crash in the Swiss mountains that killed a teacher and several of their classmates.

Twenty-four pupils from the Catholic school in the Leuven suburb of Heverlee were on the ski trip, a popular annual event. A teacher and a trip organizer were killed in the crash along with eight local children. In total, 22 children and 6 adults were killed.

"The eight sets of parents, they can only sit and wait, they just don't know. I'm in pain, I have tears inside," said Dirk De Gendt, a priest at St Lambertus Catholic church and a member of the school board.

"We don't have words, only deep grief. They were supposed to be back now." Read the full story.

Denis Balibouse / Reuters

A worker stands in front of the wreckage of a bus that crashed into a motorway tunnel in Sierre in western Switzerland on March 14, 2012. The bus, carrying 52 people, hit the side of a tunnel on the way back from a school ski trip and slammed into a wall, crushing the front third of the vehicle.

Palestinian children die in West Bank bus crash

The Associated Press reports from JERUSALEM — Israeli police say at least eight Palestinian schoolchildren died in a bus crash in the West Bank.

The children were killed when a truck careened into their schoolbus on Thursday morning. The bus overturned and caught fire.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the children were taken to Israeli and Palestinian hospitals and that at least eight died. Palestinian police say the death toll was 10.

There were no signs of foul play. The truck driver was said to be an Arab Israeli citizen who may have lost control in heavy rains and slick roads.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning and ordered flags flown at half staff. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also expressed sorrow. Click here for the latest on this story.

Bus driver charged in crash that killed 4, hurt dozens

By Rich Shulman

This second day photo really conveys the personal toll of these bus crashes.

As NBC News reported:

The fleets of inexpensive buses plying the highways of the Northeast offer cheap fares, convenient routes and in some cases free wireless Internet. Customers are picked up daily from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Fares are cheap — $10 to $15 for a ride from Boston to New York, compared with $70 or more on Amtrak.

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