WASATCH COUNTY, Utah, March 15, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A Uintah School District school bus suffered a flat tire late Wednesday night in Wasatch County, then slid into a hillside, making it impossible for the occupants to exit through the front door.
The bus was transporting the Uintah High girls track team home from a region meet at Mountain View High School in Orem, according to a news release from the Uintah School District.
“We don’t know exactly what the bus hit. We think it was a rock in the road,” Uintah schools superintendent Mark Dockins said in a prepared statement. “Whatever they ran over flattened the tire.”
After the tire went flat, the bus came to rest in the mud against a hillside along U.S. 40, Dockins said. This made it impossible to open the front door of the bus.
Everyone was able to get off the bus through the emergency exits, Dockins said.
No injuries were reported.
Three other Uintah School District buses — one carrying the boys track team, one carrying the boys soccer team, and one carrying the choir – were in the area returning from events. These buses picked up the occupants of the disabled bus and continued home to Vernal without incident, arriving at the high school about 1 a.m. Thursday, Dockins said.
Employees from the district’s transportation department repaired the tire Thursday morning and are driving the bus back to Vernal.
