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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, March 13, 2009

School bus crash injures 7 on H-1

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer

Seven people, including six fifth-graders from Nanakuli on a field trip, were injured yesterday morning in a four-vehicle accident on H-1 Freeway in Pearl City.

Six children under 12 from Ka Waihona o ka Na'auao Public Charter School and a woman in her 20s from another vehicle were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, said Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city Department of Emergency Services. The students were among more than four dozen people in a school bus.

"Everyone is fine," said Renette Parker, who works in the Ka Waihona administrative office. The six students who were injured in the 9:15 a.m. accident were released from the hospital, she said.

Ka Waihona, founded during the 2002-03 school year, has a student population of 511. It has operated at the former site of Nanaikapono Elementary School in Nanakuli since 2004.

Louis Gomes, president of Ground Transport Inc., confirmed that the school bus involved in the accident belonged to his company. The bus was taking 45 fifth-graders and five adults on a field trip to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, he said.

Gomes said the preliminary report he got from his driver was that she was forced to brake when the vehicles in front of her stopped abruptly. The bus hit the car in front of it, which in turn caused two other vehicles to be damaged, he said.

The incident happened in the middle lanes of H-1 east-bound just beyond the Waimalu Interchange.

The crash caused traffic to back up as far back as the H-1/ H-2 Interchange until the vehicles were cleared off the freeway just before 11 a.m.

Gomes said the bus driver has more than 10 years of experience with his company.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.