Several hurt as Iowa Wesleyan University bus crashes east of Des Moines

From Des Moines Register staff
·1 min read
An Iowa Wesleyan University bus is towed from Iowa Highway 163 in Polk County on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. It had been enroute to Des Moines when it flipped on its side, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. Some of the passengers suffered minor injuries.
An Iowa Wesleyan University bus is towed from Iowa Highway 163 in Polk County on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. It had been enroute to Des Moines when it flipped on its side, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. Some of the passengers suffered minor injuries.

Several people suffered minor injuries Wednesday when an Iowa Wesleyan University bus tipped on its side on westbound Iowa Highway 163 near the Metro Park East Landfill in eastern Polk County, the Polk County Sheriff's Office reported.

Sheriff's spokesperson Capt. Ryan Evans said the accident occurred between 8:45 and 9 a.m. and that the injured were taken to hospitals in Des Moines for treatment. The Mount Pleasant university's president, Christine Plunkett, said in a Facebook posting that the bus, driven by a faculty member, had been heading to the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines carrying students who planned to participate in an LGBTQ Day on the Hill.

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"Iowa Wesleyan is grateful that our students and faculty who were involved in a vehicle accident this morning only sustained minor injuries," Plunkett wrote, and also expressed gratitude to those who provided aid after the crash.

Evans said the bus had been carrying 10 people and that five were taken to hospitals in Des Moines. But Plunkett said in her posting that there were eight people aboard and that four went to hospitals.

The bus was righted and towed from the scene. No cause was given for the accident.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Wesleyan University bus crash east of Des Moines injures students