Authorities work the scene of an accident involving two school buses in Knoxville on December 2, 2014. (Associated Press photo)
Two buses bringing children home from school collided on a Tennessee highway on Tuesday afternoon, killing two students and an adult and injuring another 27 people.
Police did not immediately say what caused the crash, which sent one of the buses onto its side. The children killed were around the age of eight or younger, said Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch. The adult who died was an aide.
Three seriously injured people were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center and were in stable condition, Rausch said. Medical Center spokesman Jim Ragonese said a total of seven people were treated there, and three of them had been discharged by Tuesday evening.
East Tennessee Children's Hospital spokeswoman Erica Estep said another 20 children were being treated there for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Rausch said 18 of the 20 had been on a bus going home from Sunnyview Primary School, whose students are between the ages of five and seven. He described their injuries as "bumps and scrapes." They were taken to the hospital on a city bus "to be checked out," he said.
The other bus involved in the crash was from Chilhowee Intermediate School, whose students are between the ages of eight and 10. Rausch said some children from that bus were taken by their families to the children's hospital.
Knox County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre fought back tears at a news conference. "This is an unspeakable tragedy," he said. "This is what we work every day to try to prevent."
Class was not being held at the two schools Wednesday, but counselors were being made available part of the day for students or families if needed, McIntyre said later in a statement.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, a former Knoxville Mayor, was holding a budget meeting on Tuesday. He spoke to reporters about the crash after hearing the news.
"Any crash is a horrible thing when you have fatalities, and children involved," he said. "It's hard to imagine a worse situation. Our hearts go out to all the families impacted."