Authorities continue searching for answers in fatal Winter Haven bus crash

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POLK COUNTY, Fla.— Authorities are scheduled to release additional information Tuesday in the deadly crash involving a school bus that happened Monday morning.

Multiple agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board, are trying to figure out what caused a car to veer out of its lane and clip the bus on Lucerne Park Road. 

The news conference is set for 11 a.m. this morning at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office operations center in Winter Haven.

There are still a lot of questions about the car that crossed into the bus’ lane of travel, causing the accident.

“What we see on the video is clearly this white car, for unknown reasons, drifted,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “And that’s when it kind of bit a reverse pit on the bus. And that was a chain reaction that started the horrible crash.“

There were 39 people on board the school bus when it rolled off the road and ended up upside down.

A 10th-grade girl was killed, as was the driver of a Jeep the bus hit, after the bus was hit by a white Chevy Malibu that crossed the center line.

Authorities said seven students were taken by ambulance; three students were airlifted to hospitals. Four students were taken to the hospital by family members.

Of all 38 survivors on the bus, most were treated and released from the hospital.

It is unclear if any remain hospitalized, though one person is still in critical condition after the accident.