BUCHANAN COUNTY, Mo. — Nine people on a church bus were injured in an accident just 3:30p.m. Friday in Buchanan County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Ford F550 owned by Olivet Baptist Church of Westwood and driven by a 61-year-old Merriam, Kansas, man was northbound on Interstate 29 one half mile south of Faucett. The front passenger side tire blew out. The vehicle began to skid and then the back passenger side tire blew out. The vehicle traveled off the east side of the road, struck a ditch and overturned.
EMS transported 9 passengers including two 14-year-old girls, a 14-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl all from Kansas City, Kansas and a 16-year-old Lee's Summit boy to North Kansas City Hospital; a 15-year-old Merriam, Kansas girl, a 16-year-old Shawnee, Kansas boy; a 14-year-old Kansas City, Kansas girl and a 44-year-old Shawnee, Kansas, woman to Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph. The driver was not injured.
There were 30 people on the bus at the time of the accident. Interstate 29 was closed for several hours but reopened while first responders worked the scene. The highway was open again just after 7 p.m. Friday.