Update and corrections regarding WKHS soccer bus

LEXINGTON — Tuesday, February 28, 2017, shortly before 5 p.m., a Lexington County School District One transit bus transporting 42 White Knoll High School boy soccer players (18 varsity, 23 junior varsity), a student statistician, two coaches and a bus driver had a radiator failure while traveling on I-20 to Lugoff High School. The incident happened just before Exit 87.

Six students (one 17-year-old 12th-grader, two 17-year-old 11th-graders, two 16-year-old 10th-graders, one 15-year-old 10th-grader) were injured. Some of those students returned to school this morning.

The district is just beginning its investigation of this incident, which includes a detailed examination of the bus. However, it appears that there was a mechanical failure of some sort, and since the system is pressurized, it caused a steam, hot water, coolant mixture to release inside the bus. That mixture caused the students’ injuries.

The bus, a 1999 Thomas Transit, has a current inspection, which means it was inspected within the last 12 months.

Photo by: WIS TV