2 killed as school bus, truck collide in NJ

MOUNT OLIVE, N.J. — A school bus taking children on a field trip to a New Jersey historic site collided with a dump truck Thursday, ripping the bus apart and killing a teacher and student.

The crash left the bus lying on its side on a guardrail of Interstate 80 in Mount Olive, its undercarriage and front end sheared off and its steering wheel exposed. Some of the victims crawled out of the emergency exit in the back and an escape hatch on the roof.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the truck driver was hospitalized, but officials didn't reveal his condition.

There were 45 people — 38 students — on the bus. Forty-three people from the bus and the truck driver were taken to three area hospitals. Some were listed in critical condition.

The front end of the dump truck was mangled in the wreck. The truck was registered to Mendez Trucking, The front of this school bus was sheared off Thursday when hit by a dump truck on Interstate 80 in Mount Olive, N.J. Two people were killed and 44 injured, some critically.

of Belleville, New Jersey.

Police didn't release details of how the crash happened, but the trucking company has had a string of crashes in recent years and a higher-than-average rate of violations that sidelined

its vehicles, according to federal safety data.

The bus was owned by the school district and had seat belts, according to Paramus schools superintendent Michele Robinson. There is no federal requirement

for seat belts on full-sized school buses, but six states, including New Jersey, require them.

Robinson said that the district was canceling school trips for the rest of the school year.