News

Children hurt when bus, truck collide

Most of 25 migrant kids being taken on a day camp trip are injured, five critically, on Florida's Turnpike.

Associated Press
Published June 11, 2005

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BOCA RATON - A bus carrying 25 children of migrant workers was hit by a semitrailer truck Friday on Florida's Turnpike. Most of the children were injured, five critically, officials said.

The children were being taken on a day trip while their parents worked.

Five children, some with broken bones and head injuries, were taken to the trauma department at Delray Medical Center, said Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue Capt. Don DeLucia. Some were flown there by a rescue helicopter.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Pat Santangelo said one boy remained in intensive care late Friday, along with a 30-year-old woman chaperone. Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Steve Delai said two other children who suffered serious injuries were in stable condition.

Most of the 20 other children, some crying hysterically, were treated for minor injuries.

Santangelo said the children, ages 6 to 14, were on their way from a day camp in Boynton Beach to an amusement arcade.

The bus and the truck, which was carrying wooden pallets, were going south in adjacent lanes and were near an exit when the bus got into the truck's path and they collided, DeLucia said. Neither driver was injured. The Highway Patrol is investigating.

The truck driver, Christopher W. Puga, 38, of Reddick, and the bus driver, Luis Cabrera, 62, of West Palm Beach, have valid drivers' licenses and only minor violations on their records, according to state motor vehicle records.

The bus was used by the Migrant Association of South Florida, which provides health, educational and social services for migrant farm workers and their families.

Pedro del Sol, executive director of the association, said the kids on the trip all have diabetes or are at risk of the disease.

[Last modified June 11, 2005, 00:25:17]

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