LOCAL

3 dead, 15 injured in 'mass casualty' crash; bus was carrying students headed to Columbus

Bethany Bruner and Cole Behrens Columbus Dispatch
Published 9:35 a.m. ET Nov. 14, 2023 | Updated 11:45 a.m. ET Nov. 14, 2023

Three people are dead and 15 others injured, after a "mass casualty incident" involving a charter bus and a semi on Interstate 70, near the State Route 310 interchange in Licking County. ... Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools, an Ohio school district in Zoarville, said late Tuesday morning that the bus was carrying students and chaperones, and that there may have been "serious injuries" among those on board.

Around 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, dozens of emergency personnel from across Licking County and eastern Franklin County were dispatched to the area on a report of a crash. Scanner traffic indicated that a tractor-trailer hit a commercial bus carrying dozens of passengers.

Photographs from the scene show at least one other passenger vehicle that appears to have been involved in the crash, but it was not immediately known how many vehicles were involved. ... Ohio Department of Transportation cameras from the area show smoke coming from the crash site.

Derek Varansky, superintendent for Tuscarawas Valley, said on Facebook that "a charter bus carrying Tusky Valley students and chaperones on the way to the Ohio School Boards Association conference in Columbus was involved in a very serious accident."

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