LEVAN, Juab County — A half-dozen students sustained minor injuries and the driver of their Juab School District bus was flown to the hospital after an oncoming camp trailer swung into the bus Wednesday.
The most severe of the injuries among the children was a broken arm, said Rick Robins, Juab School District superintendent. One student was brought to the hospital, the Utah Highway Patrol said in a statement.
But the driver, Steve Peterson, sustained injuries to his head and face. He was brought by ambulance to the Central Valley Medical Center and later flown to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, where he had surgery Wednesday, Robins wrote in a blog post late Wednesday.
Robins in a statement posted to his professional blog thanked the first responders and Peterson, saying "there were angels sent to watch out for our students and driver."
Peterson made a split-second decision "with his life in jeopardy" to stabilize the bus and bring it to a stop without rolling after the trailer slammed into it, Robins said.
"Metal and wood debris flew everywhere through the cabin of the bus," Robins wrote, "miraculously missing students as the wreck occurred. The calm decision-making by Steve and the quick reactions of the students to get down gave them all the best chance to survive."
Robins said after the crash, Peterson was conscious "and has expressed nothing but concern for the kids on the bus."
The district will have counselors for students dealing with the trauma of the accident, he wrote.
After the crash, a different bus took the remaining students to their homes or bus stops, and the school district Wednesday was speaking with parents of the children who were on the bus.
The accident happened about 3:15 p.m.on state Route 28 between Nephi and Levan, the UHP said. A GMC Yukon pulling the trailer began swaying and struck the front of the bus.
The people in the Yukon did not report injuries, the UHP said.
The accident closed the highway for about an hour Wednesday afternoon near Levan, a town of roughly 900 people.
The UHP was investigating.