65 students taken to hospital after bus flipped over in ditch near Cleveland

CLEVELAND, TX (KTRK) -- Sixty-five students were taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons after a bus accident near Cleveland, Texas.

Cleveland ISD Police Chief Rex Evans told ABC13 that only ten students had to be treated in the emergency room at Cleveland Emergency Hospital.

The accident happened around 4pm on FM1010 near CR-325, Evans said.

According to the district, the driver was trying to avoid something involving two vehicles in front of him when the bus slid onto its side and into a ditch. The students were from Eastside Intermediate School.

"We were so scared. We were screaming. We were scared the bus was going to turn over," said sixth-grader Monica Martinez.

Martinez, 12, had a sore back and a cut above her lip from hitting the seat in front of her on impact. ABC13 spoke to her as she was leaving the hospital with her father.

"Everybody was screaming," she said.

The bus driver was taken to the hospital for a drug and alcohol check.

DPS is investigating the accident. The bus did not have seat belts.