Alma - A substitute Alma school bus driver and a pickup with three young children being driven to school converged this morning at a rural intersection where a stop sign had been stolen, resulting in a crash that injured several children.

The bus had 45 students aboard and was two-thirds through its route when the collision occurred Wednesday morning. David Woolly, the Alma school district's deputy superintendent, says 18 students from the bus were taken to hospitals, though none were admitted.

The three children in the pickup and its driver were being treated for more substantial injuries. Woolly said the oldest of the children in the pickup was in sixth grade. One child from the truck had a broken leg and another had a spleen injury, Woolly said.

Names were not released.

Children on the bus immediately called their parents to let them know what happened, and many parents were on the scene within minutes.

Arkansas State Police Trooper Chase Melder said the stop sign had been stolen or otherwise removed from the intersection of Gregory Chapel Road and Arkansas Highway 282. The bus was southbound on Gregory Chapel Road and drove into the highway, where the pickup hit it on the right front where the double doors are, Melder said.

Woolly said the hole in the ground where the sign post had been pulled out was still visible at the accident scene.

As a matter of routine, the bus driver was administered a drug test, though Woolly said he does not anticipate any problems with the driver will be revealed. The driver regularly fills in on other routes in the district and had earlier driven the route she was on Wednesday, though that was several months ago.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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