Children critically injured in NY school bus accident

Dozens of children were injured, eight of them critically, when a school bus overturned today while driving along a highway in New York, authorities reported.

Scores of emergency workers responded to the crash scene on the Major Deegan Expressway, where the bus flipped onto its side, authorities said.

A spokeswoman at Montefiore Hospital said it was treating eight children in critical condition.

Montefiore had already admitted two children and was expecting up to two dozen more, said spokeswoman Pamela Atkins. The hospital’s paediatric emergency department was fully staffed and awaiting the injured children.

Students in their school uniforms exited the bus after the crash as the vehicle lay on its side. The rear emergency door of the yellow bus was ajar. Rescuers were seen strapping some of the children onto boards for transportation to hospitals.

There was no word from authorities on what caused the accident.