TUNKHANNOCK TWP. - Five Tunkhannock Area school students were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries after their school bus and a car collided on Route 307 on Tuesday morning, Tunkhannock police said.
The other 30 students on the bus were taken to the district's middle school and high school, said Tunkhannock Area Superintendent Michael J. Healey. He said the bus carried students from grades five through 12.
"Our emergency procedures to handle this worked as well as they could," Mr. Healey said.
First responders from about a half-dozen ambulance companies responded to the scene, which was about one-half mile south from the Route 307 intersection with Route 92.
The bus was hit by a Chevrolet Impala driven by Dalton resident Brian Jonas, who told police he was tired after working a 12-hour night shift and possibly fell asleep at the wheel while driving south on Route 307, police said.
The children were evacuated from the bus through the rear emergency door by the bus driver, Nancy Stevens of Tunkhannock.
Mr. Jonas was taken from the scene with a head injury. Information on his condition was not immediately available.
The five children taken to Tyler Memorial Hospital were treated and released Tuesday, spokesman Jim McGuire said.
Officers learned that Mr. Jonas' driving privileges were suspended at the time of the crash. He will be charged with driving while under suspension and failure to wear a seat belt, police said.
Contact the writer: bbaker@wcexaminer.com, jkohut@timesshamrock.com