16 students uninjured after bus accident in Mifflinburg

Oct. 17—MIFFLINBURG — Sixteen Mifflinburg Area elementary and intermediate students were not injured following a school bus accident on Monday afternoon.

Mifflinburg Police Chief Jeffrey Hackenburg at Tuesday night's public borough council meeting provided an update about the incident, citing "driver's error" as the likely reason for what happened. The investigation is not yet complete, he said.

"No one was hurt," Hackenburg said. "All the kids were removed from the bus, taken by another bus to the intermediate school and reunited with their parents. It went very smoothly."

The bus, owned by Rohrer Bus Services, of Lewisburg, was traveling on Sixth Street onto Chestnut Street to go west when the driver for an unknown reason accelerated and jumped the curb. The bus went onto the sidewalk on the north berm, traveled along a series of houses, ran over a tree and wedged itself between a front porch and a larger tree, said Hackenburg.

The property is owned by Dennis Beachel. No one was home at the time of the accident, the chief said.

The roadway was shut down for 90 minutes. Aurand's Towing was called to the scene to pull the bus from the space, said Hackenburg.

"One tree had to be cut down to free the bus, but that tree was already dead," he said. "The heavy duty wrecker (from Aurand's) does amazing things. They were able to pull this bus out without hitting any more houses."

In addition to Mifflinburg and Aurands, Hackenburg said Mifflinburg Hose Company, New Berlin Fire Company, Evangelical Community Hospital and Buffalo Valley Regional Police Department also responded to the scene.

No citations were filed, but the investigation is ongoing, said Hackenburg.