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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Dozens of School Students Treated After Queens Bus Crash

QUEENS — Dozens of children on their way to a Jewish day school were treated by emergency workers Tuesday morning after their school bus collided with a minivan in Hillcrest, Queens,  witnesses and FDNY officials said.

Thirty-four students were aboard the bus, which was headed to the Yeshiva of Central Queens, an Orthodox school for boys and girls through the eighth grade, according to witnesses and one of the student's parents, who said he rushed to the scene as soon as he heard about the collision.

All of the students on the bus, as well as the drivers of the bus and minivan, were evaluated at the scene, according to firefighters and an FDNY official. No one was taken by the FDNY to the hospital, but witnesses at the scene said at least one student and one of the drivers were taken away in private ambulances.

The 34 students aboard the bus were evaluated at the scene, firefighters and an FDNY official said. None were taken to a hospital.
The 34 students aboard the bus were evaluated at the scene, firefighters and an FDNY official said. None were taken to a hospital.
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DNAinfo/Nguyen Thanh Tuan

Bayro Djukanovic, who identified himself as the minivan driver's older brother, said his brother went to a hospital to receive a precautionary CT scan.

"He said he was really afraid," recalled Djukanovic, adding that his brother called him after the collision. "He came out to check if the kids were OK, and tried to take some pictures before he suddenly fainted.

"When he woke up, he heard people saying, 'Seizure, seizure.'"

The bus was traveling west on 76th Avenue at about 7:30 a.m., when it crashed with a gray Toyota Sienna minivan, witnesses said. Emergency workers swarmed the intersection, and they were still there two hours later.

"It was like an earthquake," said Mazen Farnesa, 53, who lives at the corner of the intersection.

"It's horrible that it happened. Thank God we have a fence, otherwise the bus would have hit our living room."

The school and the bus company, Atlantic Express, did not return calls for comment.