Below is a timeline of how information came into The News:
Update 5:14 p.m.: The Georgia State Patrol is now reporting that there were a total of 42 injuries from the crash involving two school buses this afternoon. According to officials, 34 students and a bus driver were taken to Newton Medical Center and six students and a bus driver were taken to Rockdale Medical Center. Officials continue to say that appear to be no serious injuries.
Rockdale Medical spokeswoman Kerri Glover said all six people taken to Rockdale Medical were cleared and sent home.
Update, 3:36 p.m.: More than 30 Rocky Plains Elementary School students have been transported to Newton Medical Center with minor injuries following a crash involving two school buses. All of the students were transported to the hospital by school bus except for one student and one driver who were transported to the hospital via ambulance, according to school spokeswoman Sherri Davis-Viniard.
A Georgia State Patrol spokesperson said no injuries were believed to be serious.
The two buses involved were Bus Route 142 and Bus Route 106.
The students who were not injured have been transported back to Rocky Plains Elementary; parents may pick those children up from the school or they will be transported home on a different school bus.
Davis-Viniard said Rocky Plains Elementary is in the process of notifying parents of those students transported to the hospital for treatment.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, the initial indication is that the first bus was stopping to unload passengers on Ga. Highway 162 when it was hit in the rear by the second bus. The injury took place in front of 4687 Ga. Highway 162.
Original story: Two school buses have crashed near Rocky Plains Elementary School on Ga. Highway 162, according to the Newton County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's Deputy Cortney Morrison said minor injuries are being reported, but she had no more details at this point.
Georgia State Patrol just arrived on scene around 2:56 p.m., according to a spokesperson, while Sherri Davis-Viniard, public relations director for the Newton County School System, said a school official was en route to the school.
The Covington-Newton County 911 Center is reporting that Ga. Highway 162 northbound is blocked at that area.
UPDATE: According to Newton Medical spokeswoman Linda Moseley, all those that were taken to NMC have been released.
A total of 42 people, including 40 students and two bus drivers, were at least slightly injured in a crash involving two Newton County school buses on Ga. Highway 162 near Rocky Plains Elementary School around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Law enforcement and hospital officials said injuries appeared to be minor; 34 students and one bus driver were transported to Newton Medical Center, while six students and a bus driver were taken to Rockdale Medical Center, according to a Georgia State Patrol spokesperson.
Rockdale Medical spokeswoman Kerri Glover said around 5:20 p.m. that her hospital only received six people and that all of them had been cleared and sent home by that time. Newton Medical spokeswoman Linda Moseley said around 5:40 p.m. that six patients had been released from the hospital and more were preparing to leave. No more updates were provided Tuesday evening.
Georgia State Patrol's initial report is that the crash occurred when a school bus was stopping to unload passengers on Ga. Highway 162, around Oaks Landing Drive, when it was hit in the rear by a second bus.
The Motor Carrier Compliance Division of the state's public safety division will be conducting vehicle inspections on the buses tomorrow as part of the process to determine the cause of the accident, according to a GSP spokesperson.
The two buses involved in the crash were those covering bus routes 106 and 142. The students who were not injured were transported back to Rocky Plains Elementary School, where parents were either able to pick them up or they were transported home on a different bus, according to school system spokeswoman Sherri Davis-Viniard.
The school system worked to notify parents of students who had been transported to the hospital for treatment.
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