A total of 47 students were on the 3 buses at the time the accident happened.
05/04/12-Palmer-Staff Photo by Dave Roback- State and local police at the scene of a school bus accident on Route 32 at the entrance of the Massachusetts Turnpike on Friday afternoon.This is an update of a story posted at 3:15 p.m.
PALMER — A chain reaction accident involving three school buses at the entrance of the Massachusetts Turnpike exit on Route 32 (Thorndike Street) sent 14 middle school students to area hospitals, police said.
Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said the students had no visible injuries. They were taken to Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer, Baystate Mary Lane in Ware and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
A total of 47 middle school students were on the buses when the accident occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Friday.
The buses were on their way to the high school to pick up more students when one bus stopped short, setting off the chain reaction, police said. The buses were heading north, police said.
There were students on all three buses at the time. Some used their cell phones to call their parents, who rushed to the scene to get to their children, police said. The accident caused a traffic jam at the busy intersection, tying up traffic on Thorndike Street and the Massachusetts Turnpike for two hours, Frydryk said.
He said school officials, including representatives from First Student, the bus company, also responded, as well as state police and Monson police. Another bus was brought to the scene to take home the remaining students.
The accident remains under investigation.