12 injured after bus crashes into field

Morrilton group headed to singing

— A bus carrying a Morrilton church group crashed into a Conway County field Tuesday after its driver became ill, injuring 12 people, two critically, authorities said.

The Lonoke Baptist Church bus crashed into a field along Arkansas 9 about 9:40 a.m. as the group was headed to a singing event at a nursing home in Perry County.

Two passengers, both women, were taken to St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center in Little Rock, where they were listed in critical condition, said Margaret Preston Dedman, spokesman for St. Vincent Health System.

Preston Dedman said 10 other people from the bus were being evaluated at St. Vincent Morrilton medical center but had not been admitted as patients.

Twelve people, including some senior citizens, were aboard the bus on its way to a Perryville nursing home when the driver became ill, said Johnathan Trafford, director of the Conway County Office of Emergency Management.

“The only injuries that were assessed on-site ... were of broken bones — broken arms and broken legs,” Trafford said. Except for those critically injured, he said, “everyone else [suffered] basically bumps and bruises.”

Sheriff Mike Smith said the wreck occurred after “the driver said he wasn’t feeling good and was looking for a place to pull over, and that’s all he remembers.”

Smith said he believed a passenger reached to grab the steering wheel, but it was too late to avoid the crash, which occurred along a curve about three miles south of Morrilton and just north of Oppelo.

Authorities were unsure later Tuesday why the driver, whose name was not immediately released, became ill.

The bus went down a steep incline of “at least 6 to 8 feet” before it crossed two ditches, ran through a fence and stopped in the field, Trafford said.

The accident “just tossed everyone around in the bus,” Trafford said.

“It was lucky that the bus didn’t overturn,” he said.

No one answered the phone at the church, and there was no listing for the minister in Morrilton. However, several church members were communicating about the crash on the church’s Facebook site.

“Praying non stop,” one man wrote.

“Praying for all these dear, sweet people,” a woman wrote.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/28/2012

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