Blue Hill Community Saddened by Tragedy

Four people are dead after a School bus-semi truck crash southeast of Blue Hill Wednesday between 4:30 and 4:45 ,   Webster County Sheriff’, Troy Schmitz  confirmed. The accident occurred at the intersection of County Road 1800 and County Road R.  south east of Blue Hill as the children were returning home from school in Blue Hill.
Seven children were on the bus at the time of the accident.
 Five children are injured and two died at the scene.
The bus collided with a semi truck loaded with bales of hay, said Deb Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol.
The drivers of both vehicles died at the scene. The other two victims were reportedly passengers on the bus. Their names and ages have not yet been released.
 The semi caught on fire after the crash, and the fire spread to the school bus.
Several area fire departments responded to the scene to control the blaze.
The injured children are between 6 and 10 years old, and four were taken to Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital in Hastings according to a hospital spokesperson.  One of the children may have been taken to a Superior hospital by her parent. 
One of the patients first taken to Hastings was  then flown  to Children’s Hospital in Omaha.  Her condition was not clear, but the child was stable, said Mary Lanning spokeswoman Lisa Brandt.
Another patient had first- and second-degree burns and cuts and was in surgery, Brandt said.
A boy with non-life-threatening injures was to be admitted, and another boy was to be treated and released, Brandt said.
The hospital called in physicians trained in the care of children to help treat the patients, who arrived just after 6 p.m.