2 school buses crash, sending about 2 dozen to the hospital

CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Authorities say one school bus from Georgia rear-ended another during their field trip to Tennessee, sending more than two dozen people to hospitals.

News outlets report 19 students and four adults were taken for evaluation to a Cleveland, Tennessee, hospital after the Thursday morning crash. An ambulance took two others with non-life-threatening injuries, a student and an adult, to another hospital.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Sergeant Alan Bailey says the buses were following each other when a tractor-trailer reportedly stopped short. Bailey says the first bus stopped in time but the second bus couldn't, rear-ending the other bus. The buses were on an outing from North Whitfield Middle School in Dalton, Georgia.

A school district spokeswoman, Kristina Horsley, says the students were to return home once they're cleared by the hospital.

The district released the following statement:

"Two Whitfield County school buses transporting students on a field trip were involved in an accident in Cleveland, TN along APD 40 before 9:30 a.m. A tractor trailer stopped abruptly at a red light in front of bus 0634. The bus was able to make a complete stop, however, the following bus, bus 0281, was not. Due to the circumstances, the driver was not cited.

"All students are safe and accounted for. Nineteen students and four adults were taken to area hospitals for evaluations. Some were transported by ambulance, some by a Cleveland City school bus. All students and adults have since been released from the hospital."