11 injured after large tree falls on school bus in Tewksbury Township

    TEWKSBURY TOWNSHIP New Jersey (WABC) -- Several students were injured when a large tree fell on the front end of a school bus in Readington on Friday morning.

The incident happened in the area of Fairmount Road East and Addison Drive in Tewksbury Township around 7 a.m.

Eleven patients with minor injuries -- 10 students and the driver -- were transported to a nearby medical center for further evaluation and to be reunited with their parents.

A group of garbage collectors working nearby are being hailed as heroes for racing to the scene and helping to get the kids off the bus.

"I heard the bus driver had a little bump on her head, they took the kids and everybody to the hospital just to evaluate but the real heroes are my garbage men, picking up the garbage, they saw it happen, they ran up the street and they evacuated everyone off the bus -- in a second," witness Paul Camara said.

The superintendent of Tewksbury Township Schools said everyone has since been released from the hospital.

"Due to the excellent skills and calm demeanor of our school bus driver, a potentially disastrous situation was averted and nobody was seriously injured," Superintendent Jennifer Shouffler said."We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to our driver as well as the emergency crews and others who helped escort our students off the bus to safety."

It was not yet known which school the students were going to at the time of the crash.

It is also not clear if high winds brought the tree down, but crews cleaning up the tree said the root system was very poor.