Deadly Bus Crash after Idaho Band Competition

A bus carrying a Utah high school marching band swerved off an Idaho interstate. Police and school officials stated that the crash caused the bus to land on its side, killing an instructor and injuring some students.

John Miller, director of the American Fork, Utah, high school band, told Yahoo that two students were rushed by helicopter Saturday night to a hospital in Pocatello. Another twelve students were rushed to the hospital via ground ambulance with serious injuries. Another thirty were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The Idaho police stated in a preliminary investigation that the bus driver had a medical condition that caused the crash. The Salt Lake Tribune said witnesses at the scene identified the person killed as Heather Christensen who was the school's woodwind instructor. Miller told the newspaper, "She loved her students, they were her life. I know she died trying to save them." The crash occurred at 7 P MDT on interstate 15, two miles north of McCammon and 50 miles north of the Utah border. According to Miller, "Forty nine students were on the bus that tipped over. Altogether there was a total of 222 students that went on the trip. The students were divided into four buses." James Kimball who is sixteen told the AP that he saw the bus swerve off the road and go off its side in a ditch off I-15. The band is one of Utah's best known and won the Pocatello competition.