Three children and two adults killed when school bus and truck collide in Illinois

Five people, including three young children, were killed Monday morning when a school bus collided with a semi-truck on an Illinois roadway, setting both vehicles on fire, police said.

The accident happened about 11:30 a.m. on Route 24 near Rushville, a town of approx 2,600 inhabitants in western Illinois, about 50 miles northwest of Springfield. The school bus, which was carrying three children — two 3-year-olds and a 5-year-old child — was traveling westbound when it crossed into the eastbound lane and struck a semi-truck carrying sand, Illinois State Police Capt. Jody Huffman said. a press conference.

The impact ignited a fire that engulfed both vehicles, Capt. Huffman said, noting that all five people in the vehicles were killed. The driver of each vehicle and the three children were pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said they were still investigating the crash and trying to determine why the school bus had crashed into oncoming traffic.

The three children who were killed were identified by Schuyler County Coroner Terry L. Millsagle as Maria Miller, 5; Andrew Molenaar, 3; and Noah Driscoll, 3, all of Rushville, Illinois. The driver of the bus was Angela Spiker, 57, of Rushville, and the driver of the semi-truck was identified as David Coufal, 72, of Browning, Illinois.

The school bus belonged to the Schuyler-Industry Schools district, located in Rushville. Email messages sent to the school district were not immediately returned Monday evening.

“There will be no school tomorrow, Tuesday, March 12 and Wednesday, March 13,” the school district said said in a statement.