Two adults were killed and eight students were hurt after a tractor trailer truck driving the wrong way on an Illinois highway struck a school bus carrying a high school girls basketball team Wednesday night.
The driver of the truck and an adult volunteer on the bus were killed in the Bloomington, Illinois, crash, according to the Bloomington Pantagraph.
The team was from Normal Community West High School in nearby Normal, Illinois. The students were reportedly driving back from a game at another high school shortly before 8:30 p.m. when the truck hit the bus head-on on Interstate 74. A total of 11 people were on the bus at the time of the crash, according to the Peoria Journal Star.
Eight girls and the coach taken to area hospitals, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The identity of the truck driver, who is reportedly a 34-year-old Iowa man, has not yet been released, pending family notification.
The school district identified the deceased bus passenger as Charlie Crabtree, a 72-year-old volunteer accompanying the girls.
The school district announced the crash on social media Wednesday. Several people fondly remembered Crabtree online as a kind soul.
Pamela Rice, who said that Crabtree was a bus driver who had driven her son during summer school, wrote, “He was the kindest, sweetest, and most gentle bus driver I had ever known, always had a smile on his face!”
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- Sabrina Carpenter Has Waited Her Whole Life for This
- What Lies Ahead for the Middle East
- Why It's So Hard to Quit Vaping
- Jeremy Strong on Taking a Risk With a New Film About Trump
- Our Guide to Voting in the 2024 Election
- The 10 Races That Will Determine Control of the Senate
- Column: How My Shame Became My Strength
Contact us at letters@time.com