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Wisconsin crash kills 5 on band trip

By wire services
Published October 17, 2005

OSSEO, Wis. - A bus carrying high school students home from a band competition crashed into a semitrailer truck that had jackknifed on the interstate early Sunday, killing five people, including the band director and his 11-year-old granddaughter, officials said.

Twenty-nine others were injured, some seriously, troopers said.

The semi had gone off the shoulder of Interstate 94 and jackknifed, and was blocking the westbound lane, Wisconsin State Patrol Capt. Douglas Notbohm said. The bus slammed into the truck, but it didn't roll or catch fire, patrol spokesman Brent Pickard said.

It was the first of four buses carrying about 200 students and 40 adult chaperones, Chippewa Falls school superintendent Mike Schoch said.

Four students and three adults remained hospitalized Sunday night. Many had undergone surgery, but all were expected to recover, he said.

LAWRENCE, Mass. - Gov. Mitt Romney lifted the state of emergency for Massachusetts on Sunday, deactivating the National Guard and sending a signal that the worst of the weather problems was over.

In Connecticut, the body of a woman who lost her footing and fell into the rapids of the Natchaug River in Chaplin was found Sunday morning, state police said. Elizabeth Cunningham, 54, of Hampton was pronounced dead at the scene. Hers was the second death in the state attributed to flooding.

The statewide state of emergency in New Jersey was lifted Saturday evening. In New Hampshire, many of the 1,300 residents evacuated last weekend from Keene returned home Saturday.

[Last modified October 17, 2005, 01:19:13]