OMAHA SCHOOL BUS CRASH SUBJECT OF FIRST NTSB BOARD MEETING FOR THE YEAR

The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public Board Meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2004 at 9:30 a.m., in its Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C. A final report on a fatal school bus accident in Omaha, Nebraska will be discussed.

On Saturday, October 13, 2001, a 78-passenger school bus carrying 27 high school students and 3 adults (excluding the driver) was traveling westbound through a work zone on U.S. Route 6 in Omaha. The bus struck a barrier, steered to the left and then steered abruptly back to the right, striking the barrier again and a three-rail barrier between a guardrail and a concrete bridge railing. The bus passed through the remains of the three-rail barrier, rode up onto the bridge's sidewall, and rolled 270 degrees clockwise as it fell about 49 feet, landing on its left side in the creek below the bridge. Three students and one adult sustained fatal injuries. The remaining passengers and the bus driver sustained injuries ranging from serious to minor.

Directions to the Board Room: Front Door located on Lower 10th Street, directly below L'Enfant Plaza. From Metro, exit L'Enfant Plaza station at 9th and D streets escalator, walk through shopping mall, at CVS store take escalator down one level. Board Room will be to your left.

Media Contact: Keith Holloway, (202) 314-6100
hollowk@ntsb.gov