A child was seriously injured when a school bus carrying 40 Kapolei Elementary School first-graders was struck by a Jeep on Moanalua Freeway westbound around noon Tuesday, officials said.
A 7-year-old girl was hospitalized with serious injuries, said Shayne Enright, city Department of Emergency Services spokeswoman.
Cynthia Otsu, Kapolei Elementary principal, visited the student at the hospital and reported that the girl sustained a head injury but is expected to make a full recovery, said state Department of Education spokesman Alexandre Da Silva.
The other 39 students, all ages 5 to 7, were examined by paramedics but did not appear injured, Enright said. All were taken to hospitals as a precautionary measure. Between four and six teachers and chaperones were on board. They, along with the bus driver, also were not injured, she said.
A woman who was the driver and sole occupant of the Jeep refused treatment, Enright said.
The crash happened at the Fort Shafter offramp, just Ewa of the Middle Street merge. Honolulu Police Department dispatch closed the offramp for a time.
The bus belongs to Ground Transport Inc.
The students were part of a group of 90 who were returning from field trips in downtown Honolulu, Da Silva said.
Ground Transport Co. President Louis Gomes said the group on the bus that crashed visited Aliiolani Hale, the Hawaii Supreme Court building. The students in another bus toured the state Capitol.
Preliminary indications are that tire tread and other debris from a semitruck that had stopped along the shoulder of the freeway caused the Jeep to swerve, Gomes said. The Jeep struck the right rear of the bus, "causing the bus to jerk back and forth," he said.
The bus driver, who has more than 15 years of service, managed to get the bus under control and pull over to the shoulder, Gomes said.
"The driver is fine, just shaken up," he said.
As is protocol in such situations, she was tested for drug and alcohol use. An internal investigation into exactly what happened is still ongoing, Gomes said.
