Ohio Highway Patrol: Crash kills 4 in van carrying disabled people, including driver

4 dead in Ohio crash of bus carrying disabled

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A tractor-trailer jackknifed on a snow-covered road, swerved into oncoming traffic and collided with a small bus transporting disabled passengers Thursday, killing four people in the bus, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

The tractor-trailer was heading west on Interstate 70 when it crossed the highway median, struck the bus and clipped another vehicle heading the opposite way, Sgt. Raymond Durant said. There was snow on the roads when the crash occurred and it had been snowing steadily throughout the region all day.

Four people died, including the driver of the 17-passenger bus, Durant said. One person was in critical condition and six others suffered injuries and were transported to hospitals, he said. Six of the injured were riding in the bus, and the tractor-trailer driver was also injured.

Durant said the bus was carrying 11 people at the time of the crash.

The bus was from the Creative Learning Workshop, a center that provides vocational services to adults with mental and developmental disabilities. The center is based in Warren, Ohio, but has locations across the state. Phone calls to the center’s director were not immediately returned Thursday.

The accident occurred near Springfield in southwest Ohio.

Snow-slick roads caused several accidents throughout the day in the county where the crash occurred, said sheriff’s dispatcher Vannessa Haley. The snow started falling at about 9 a.m. and grew heavier at about 12:45 p.m., when dispatchers received reports of the accident, Haley said.

“We had a lot of vehicles just generally going off the road,” Haley said. “Most of which throughout the day weren’t severe until we had this accident.”

The highway patrol said the crash is still under investigation and would not say whether it was weather-related.

Four of the injured passengers were taken to Springfield Regional Medical Center, said spokesman Jim Senese. Their conditions were not available.

A dispatcher with the Harmony Township Fire Department, which responded to the crash scene first, said no one was available to comment because firefighters were meeting with a minister.

Associated Press writer John Seewer contributed to this report from Toledo, Ohio.