BLADENSBURG — Two single-vehicle accidents within yards of each other on an icy road kept fire and EMS crews from Bladensburg and Utica busy this morning.
Shortly before 9 a.m., the driver of an SUV traveling eastbound on Ohio 541 near Earlywine Road lost control, leaving the left side of the roadway and rolling over. According to OSHP Trooper Garic Warner, the unidentified female driver sustained minor to moderate injuries.
The Bladensburg Fire Department responded with an engine rescue and worked to extricate the victim. She was transported to Knox Community Hospital by the Bladensburg squad.
Warner said immediately following that, a Knox County Head Start bus headed westbound on the same stretch of road also lost control leaving the road and coming to rest in a ditch.
Bladensburg Fire Chief Nick Cockrell said the three small children on the bus were helped from the bus by firefighters and checked by Utica medics. Cockrell flagged down an East Knox school bus to transport the children to East Knox Elementary up the road to be checked again by medics and wait for parents to be contacted.
East Knox Director of Transportation Kathy Hathaway was on the scene to check on the children and help arrange for their transport.
The East Knox bus waited at the scene until an Ohio Department of Transportation salt truck arrived to treat the icy road.
“We went right from wet roads to ice,” Warner said of the icy conditions which contributed to both accidents.
