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School Fieldtrip Leaves Two Dead, Injures Many More.
Written by Landry Thompson & Sam Merrill
09/26/23
Of the many injured, five of the students are in critical condition, with the rest of the campers spread out over six different hospitals, many being evacuated by helicopter. "I thought it was a dream until I could feel like the pain in my leg. The kid next to me was covered in blood. I saw blood everywhere." says 15 year old Anthony Eugenio, a student of the trip, who was asleep at the time of the crash.
On Thursday, September 21st, 1:20 pm in Orange County, just 30 minutes outside of pine forest camp, a bus transporting 40 band campers suffered a popped tire and tumbled 50 feet off of interstate 84.
It took 45 minutes to get to the scene of the crash. Many were injured as well as two fatalities, 43 year old Gina Pelletiere, the school’s band director, and 73 year old Beatrice Ferrari, retired social studies teacher.
Anxiety and grief were among the many feelings that parents of the trip as well as faculty members felt "My niece is on one of the other buses, she's okay. It's terrifying," Howitt Middle School teacher Donna Baltch said. "These kids go on a trip to have fun, this is something that they look forward to all year, and these poor teachers, these chaperones, I'm hearing mixed things, we don't know if they're okay. Right now, we are just praying and hoping that they're okay." The County and state are grieving alongside these poor families that have gone through this devastating loss.
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