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Fourth teen dies in Alabama school bus crash

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (CNN) -- A fourth teenage girl died Tuesday at a hospital from injuries sustained when a school bus plunged off a highway overpass Monday in Alabama, Huntsville Police Chief Rex Reynolds said.

She was identified as Crystal Renee McCrary, 17. The three others killed were Christine Collier, 18; Nicole Ford, 17; and Tanesha Hill, age unknown. Collier and Ford both died at the scene Monday, while Hill died hours later at Huntsville Hospital.

Fourteen students and the bus driver remain hospitalized, including at least three in critical condition.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are on the scene trying to determine what caused the accident.

The bus, carrying 40 students from Huntsville's Lee High School, fell 30 feet to the street below an overpass on Interstate 565 and landed on its front end before flipping over.

The bus driver was either ejected or escaped from the vehicle before it fell, NTSB investigator Debbie Hersman said Tuesday. He was found on the overpass by rescue workers, she said.

The initial investigation indicated that a small sedan driven by a fellow high school student veered into the bus' lane, causing the bus to drag along the concrete barrier for more than 100 feet before plunging off the interstate overpass.

Police have interviewed the 17-year-old driver of the orange 1990 Toyota Celica as well as the bus driver.

They planned to interview the bus driver again on Tuesday, Huntsville police spokesman Wendell Johnson said.

According to Hersman, the teen driver told police something went wrong with the Celica that caused it to drift into the bus' lane. The NTSB is investigating whether the car struck the bus.

The car had two flat tires after the accident, although it was unclear when they went flat and what role that might have played.

Photos of the car on the overpass showed damage to the driver's side door and the front passenger side.

Police have not decided whether the teen driver will be charged.

"Huntsville has never seen an accident like this involving students," said Johnson, the police spokesman.

Debate over whether school buses need seat belts

Johnson noted that the bus was not equipped with passenger seat belts or air bags.

"The students, when they were hurled over the side of I-565 ... they were just tossed around inside the school bus," he said.

While most school buses do not have safety belts for students, Hersman stressed that the vehicles are "inherently very safe" and "do very well in most accidents."

"We have generally seen less than 10 children a year killed in accidents on school buses, but one of the issues that have come up is whether there should be restraints," the NTSB investigator said at a news conference Monday in Huntsville.

There are no federal requirements, but some states have demanded that any new school buses purchased by state governments must be equipped with safety belts.

Hersman said the NTSB has not made a decision on whether it supports requiring safety restraints on school buses.

However, the board has been pushing the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to carry out tests to determine if safety belts should be among a set of performance standards set by the federal government.

Currently there are no national performance standards for school buses.

In addition to determining the cause of Monday's fatal school bus accident, Hersman said the NTSB will be looking at whether it could have any effect on school bus safety regulations.

"Certainly this accident is a tragedy, and we wish that we were not here, but we will do everything that we can to make sure if there is any safety improvement that can come out of this accident," she said. "That is our purpose."

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第四个孩子在阿拉巴马校车事故中丧身

Huntsville, 阿拉巴马 --Huntsville警方负责人Rex Reynolds说第四个孩子(是个女孩)星期二在医院因为在星期一阿拉巴马校车从高架桥的公路上栽下(的事故)中受伤不治而亡。

她被证实是17岁的Crystal Renee McCrarry. 其他三名死者是18岁的Christine Collier, 17岁的Nicloe Ford, and 年纪不详的Tanesha Hill. Collier 和Ford 在现场就已经死去,而Hill是后来在Huntsville医院死去的。

14个学生和校车司机仍然待在医院,其中包括至少三人情况危急。

国家交通安全委员会在现场试图找出事故的原因。

这辆载着40名亨茨维尔高中学生的校车,从州际高速565号的一个高架桥上跌落30英尺,落到下面的街道上。车子在翻转之前车头着地。

国家交通安全委员会的调查人员说,校车司机在车子坠落之前或者是被弹了出来或是从里面逃了出来。她说司机被救援人员在高架桥上找到。

最初的调查表明一辆由也是一个高中生开着的小轿车驶入了校车的线道,使得校车沿着混凝土栏杆向前开了100尺,然后掉下了州际公路高架桥。

警察已经讯问了那辆橙色的1990丰田Celica的17岁司机和校车的司机。

亨茨维尔警方发言人Wendel Johnson说他们计划星期二再次讯问校车司机。

按Hersman的说法,那名十几岁的司机告诉警察说他那辆Celica发生了故障因而驶入了校车的线道。国家交通安全委员会正在调查小车是不是撞到了校车。

小车在事故后两个瘪胎,尽管还不清楚它们是什么时候瘪的和在事故中起了什么作用。

小车在高架桥上的照片显示小车的驾驶员一侧的门和前面乘客一侧有损伤。

警察还没有决定是否将起诉这名十几岁的驾驶员。

“亨茨维尔还没有过象这样卷入学生的事故,”警察发言人强森说。

辩论校车是否需要安全带

强森发现校车没有配备乘客安全带和气囊。

“当学生们被从565高速一侧甩出来时,他们在校车里被颠来颠去,”他说。

虽然大多数的校车都没有为学生装安全带,强森强调说校车“本身非常安全”,而且“在大多数的事故中都表现非常好。”

“我们通常只看到不到10个孩子每年在校车事故中丧身,但是浮现的问题之一是到底需不需要安全带,” 国家交通安全委员会的调查人员星期一在亨茨维尔的一个记者招待会上说。

联邦没有要求,但是有一些州要求州政府新购买的校车必须配备安全带。

Hersman说国家交通安全委员会还没有就是否支持安全带要求做出决定。

但是,委员会已经要求国家高速公路交通安全署进行测试看安全带是不是应该被联邦政府列为(汽车安全)表现系列标准之一。

现在还没有校车的国家(汽车安全)表现标准。

除了决定星期一恶性校车事故的原因外,Hersman说国家交通安全委员会将检查这起事故是不是会对校车安全规则有影响。

“毫无疑问这起事故是一个悲剧,而且我们当然希望我们不在这里,但是我们将尽一切努力来查找是不是这次事故可以带来(今后)安全的提升,”她说。“这是我们的目的。”
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