School bus carrying junior football team crashes near Pittsburgh; 21 hospitalised; probe under way

A bus transporting a Junior High football team to a game met with an accident as the bus overturned on a sharp bend north of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, on Saturday, leaving 21 of the 28 passengers injured and hospitalised, officials said.

The bus was carrying 25 students and three adults from Aliquippa Junior High school to a scheduled match in Gibsonia when it crashed in Economy Borough, about 20 miles from Pittsburgh, reported AP.

Economy Borough police chief Michael O’Brien said the vehicle tipped onto its side before righting itself as students evacuated. He added that the accident occurred at a “bad bend” in the road and that investigators are working to determine the cause.

Authorities did not release details about the medical conditions of those taken to hospitals.

The Aliquippa Junior High football team, in a statement on Facebook, said all players were being evaluated and urged “a thought or prayer for each player or coach that was traveling this morning.”