School bus and tanker truck collide in Gloucester County, sending dozens to hospital

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N.J. (WTXF) - Officials say multiple people were injured after a tanker truck collided with a school bus in Gloucester County, New Jersey.

A school bus mangled in the front and back and across the intersection a tanker truck flipped over in a grassy area. The crash left fluid spewed all over the intersection forcing police to close the roads until hazmat crews could there for cleanup. Dozens of students have been checked out at area hospitals luckily with non-life threatening injuries.

School Superintendent James Lavender of Kingsway Regional School District tells FOX 29 the bus was carrying high school students from Gloucester County Institute of Technology home to South Harrison Township around 3:30 p.m. Monday.

Preliminary police reports say the school bus was traveling westbound on Ferrell Road when it came to a stop sign just before the crash.

"The tanker truck traveling westbound on Monroeville road. The school bus attempted to make a left hand turn on Monroeville Road and collided with the tanker truck that was on Monroeville Road," said Lt. Sean Weston with South Harrison Township Police Department.

At that point, both vehicles went off the road. Paul Simon, a spokesperson for Inspira Medical Center in Woodbury, says seven students were brought to that location. All but one had been released late Monday evening. That spokesperson says another student was taken to Inspira Medical Center in Elmer. The school superintendent says more than 20 students were on the bus at the time of the crash.

Preliminary reports are that the driver of the tanker truck was taken to Chester Crozier in critical condition. No word on who or what caused the crash.