CHICAGO (CBS)– Two people were killed and ten others were injured, including eight students, when a semi-trailer truck going the wrong way on Interstate 74 slammed into a school bus carrying a high school girls’ basketball team near downstate Bloomington.
The Normal Community West High School freshman girls’ basketball team was on the way back from a game, and headed west on I-74 between Bloomington and Downs, when a semi driving the wrong way hit their school bus head-on.
The collision killed the truck driver, and a 72-year-old volunteer with the basketball team. Two other adults on the bus were seriously injured, and had to be airlifted to hospitals.
All eight members of the basketball team were taken to hospitals, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
A spokeswoman for the school district said crisis counselors would be at the school on Thursday to help students cope in the wake of the crash.
“We have support here. We had support here tonight. Social media spreads information very quickly, and our students began to gather here. So we brought in administrators and social emotional support, and we had some dogs here tonight, emotional [support] dogs,” McLeanCounty Unit School District No. 5 spokeswoman Dayna Brown said. “Our community really came out for us, and started showing up, and showing support for the Normal West family.”
Brown said Normal West High School would have a normal school day on Thursday, with support in place for students, parents, and staff.
The volunteer who was killed has been identified as Charlie Crabtree, of Normal, a beloved volunteer at Normal West. Students have been posting messages on
Authorities have not released the name of the truck driver, or said why they believe he was going the wrong way on I-74.
