By PATRICK ORSAGOS and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press, and staff
COLUMBUS — National Transportation Safety Board personnel, including nine accident investigators will be on the scene of a deadly crash in Licking County Wednesday morning to begin the work of trying to determine what caused a crash that left six people dead, three of them teenagers.
The chain-reaction crash involving a charter bus, two commercial vehicles and two passenger vehicles occurred in Etna Township near state Route 310 at 8:15 a.m. (time corrected), according to NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy and Lt. Nathan Dennis of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
“What we’re doing on scene is collecting the perishable evidence,” Homendy told reporters Tuesday night. “We’re looking for cameras that may have been in motor vehicles or the motor coach. We’ll want to…determine what the sequence of events was.”
Homendy said there was “conflicting information” about the sequence of events that lead to the crash.
Investigators will remain on the scene for five to seven days and will issue a preliminary report approximately 10 days after they leave and a final report on the incident, including analysis and recommendations, a year to 18 months from now, Homendy said.
The charter bus, carrying 57 members of the Tuscarawas Valley High Schol band and their chaperones, was stopped due to an accident on the roadway with a passenger vehicle, also carrying chaperones, behind it when the passenger vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer rig, forcing it into the bus, Homendy said. Two vehicles stopped in front of the bus were also damaged.
Three of the passengers on the bus were pronounced deceased at the scene: John Mosely, of Mineral City, and Jeffery D. Worrell, of Bolivar, both 18; and Katelyn Owens, 15, of Mineral City, Dennis said. A total of 15 students and the bus driver were transported to area hospitals.
Three occupants in a passenger vehicle were pronounced deceased at the scene. They were identified as Dave Kennat, 56, of Navarre; Kristy Gaynor, 39, of Zoar; and Shannon Wigfield, 45, of Bolivar.
Fran and I are praying for everyone involved in the bus crash east of Columbus today. It is our worst nightmare to have a bus full of children involved in such a terrible crash, and it is certainly the worst nightmare that families and schools can endure. I am with @OSHP now, and…
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) November 14, 2023
Gov. Mike DeWine ordered U.S. and Ohio flags flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds throughout Tuscarawas and Stark counties, and at the Statehouse, Vern Riffe Center and Rhodes Tower in downtown Columbus from sunrise on Wednesday until sunset on Saturday to honor the victims.
“This is our worst nightmare, when we have a bus full of children involved in a crash,” DeWine said during a news conference at the scene. “Prayers go out to the families, everyone who was on the bus.”
“Right now, our focus is on getting in touch with our Tusky Valley families who had loved ones on the bus and providing support to our entire school community,” Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools superintendent Derek Varansky said in a Facebook post.
The students and adults were on their way to a meeting of the Ohio School Boards Association conference in Columbus, which was canceled after organizers learned of the crash.
“Given this devastating news, we have canceled our conference. Right now, our focus is on providing support to Tuscarawas Valley. That includes making grief counselors from our trade show available,” said Jeff Chambers, the association’s director of communication services.
The injured were being treated at five hospitals.
The American Red Cross of Central and Southern Ohio said it fulfilled a request for more blood from one hospital in the area, sending 30 units to a hospital in the Mount Carmel Health System, said Marita Salkowski, regional communications director. A center was set up at a United Methodist Church in Etna for bus passengers not in need of medical attention to go to and contact loved ones, she said.
Numerous emergency responders were at the scene, and Ohio Department of Transportation cameras from the area showed smoke coming from the crash site. Police officers were blocking the entrance ramps to I-70 East and West near the scene of the accident, increasing traffic along the road leading to the interstate.
Dozens of emergency response vehicles were still at the scene of the accident several hours after it occurred. The freeway was not reopened until late Tuesday night.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Ron Todt in Philadelphia and Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey, contributed to this report.