State Police have released additional details on a Thursday afternoon school bus crash north of Du Quoin that sent four students and the bus driver to the hospital for treatment of varying injuries.
Preliminary information indicates for unknown reasons, the school bus failed to avoid a semi pulling a flatbed trailer that had stopped on US 51 southbound while waiting to turn east onto Kimmel Road. Eleven other students on the bus were not injured.
The driver of the bus transporting students from St. Bruno Catholic School in Pinckneyville has been identified as 52-year-old Dennis Shemonic of DuBois. The driver of the semi was 52-year-old Isaac Baez Valerio of Orlando, Florida. He was not injured.
The crash occurred at 3:10 on Thursday afternoon. The roadway was cleared and reopened at 8:35 Thursday night.
State Police say this is still an open and ongoing investigation.
