UPDATED: Two Mill Creek Students Remain Hospitalized

UPDATED April 11 at 3:15 p.m.: Two students injured in an remain hospitalized according to Gwinnett County Schools spokesman Jorge Quintana.

Quintana said initial reports indicated all 17 students had been released from the hospital. School officials learned today that two of the students, including one student who was ejected from the bus and air-flighted to Macon Medical, are still being treated for their injuries.

A total of 20 people were transported to Macon area hospitals as a result of the accident. The injuries included broken ribs, broken noses and a few broken teeth, according to Mill Creek principal Dr. Jim Markham.

A total of 52 people, including 47 Mill Creek students, were on the bus at the time of the accident. The accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m. on I-75 northbound near mile marker 116 in Dooly County as the students were returning from a chorus group competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Georgia State Patrol spokesman Gordy Wright said a rear end collision occurred in the left lane of travel ahead of the bus. One of the vehicles from that accident was pushed into the path of the tour bus. The tour bus operator swerved to avoid the vehicle, ran off the roadway and up an embankment striking an overpass.

Mill Creek parent Mark Tumbleston’s daughter Madison was on the bus and suffered a broken nose, a broken tooth and two black eyes.

“She just got bounced around. She ended up on the floor of the bus,” Tumbleston said.

According to Tumbleston, the students had to stay on the bus for at least 15 minutes after the accident as firefighters worked to stabilize the vehicle and prevent the bus from rolling down the embankment.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” he said.

After the accident, the uninjured students were transported to the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office to await alternative transportation.

Sheriff’s Office investigator Randy Lambert said his department used three of its vehicles and other private cars to transport the students from the scene of the accident to the Sheriff’s Office headquarters.

“We opened up our facility to assist and provide a place for the students to wait for the parents,” Lambert said.

Principal Markham said he dispatched a bus as soon as he was notified of the accident, but later recalled it when advised by parents that the students preferred not to take another bus ride. Markham said by the time he was notified of the accident, a representative of the Mill Creek chorus booster club had notified all the parents. The parents subsequently made arrangements to pick up the stranded students.

Tumbleston said he learned of the accident when he received a phone call from his daughter and was not contacted by a booster club representative until after he had reached the Macon Hospital where his daughter was being treated.

“We provide all that emergency contact information and the first time you hear of this, it’s from your daughter,” he said. Tumbleston expressed concern regarding the school’s emergency notification procedures, but conceded officials were dealing with somewhat chaotic circumstances.

“I just hope I never get a phone call like that again,” he said.

The accident remains under investigation.

Mill Creek High School is one of the largest schools in Georgia with a current enrollment of about 3,490 students.