St Johns Bus Rollover
Emergency crews tend to an overturned bus that held 45 members from St. John's UMC in Aiken, S.C. (Credit: Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department Photo)
Members of a confirmation class from St. John’s United Methodist Church in Aiken, S.C., and their adult chaperones were reported unharmed after a bus carrying them home from a retreat overturned in Oconee County, S.C., on March 6.
WLTX Channel 19, a CBS affiliate, reported that several agencies responded to the accident on a rural highway in the county about four miles south of Seneca, S.C. When the agencies arrived, they found the 45 passengers already working to free themselves from the overturned bus.
No one was injured, based on emergency medical assessments at the scene. Although the Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department didn’t give details, a spokesman said that a mechanical failure was suspected in the crash.
Agencies working the accident credited the bus driver, whose name wasn’t given, with lessening the rollover impact by responding quickly when the apparent equipment failure occurred.
Two nearby churches, Lifeline Community Church and Cross Roads Baptist Church, aided the passengers after the accident. Multiple fire department and emergency response units, along with the South Carolina Highway Patrol, responded to the crash scene.
St. John’s UMC is one of the largest and most influential congregations in the South Carolina Annual Conference. Its senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Timothy McClendon, has been a candidate for bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction and is a nationally known church figure.