Eighteen children were injured, seven seriously, in a school bus accident involving students aged between 5 and 11 years in the city of Melbourne (Australia), as reported by the authorities on Wednesday. About 45 students from Exford Primary School were returning home Tuesday afternoon when a truck collided with the rear of the school bus as it tried to turn, causing it to crash. the bus overturned on one side of the road.

The emergency services that went to the scene of the accident, as well as some pedestrians, removed the children who were trapped inside the bus. In a statement, the Victoria State Police, whose capital is Melbourne, indicated this Wednesday that 18 children and the bus driver were taken to the hospital.

Seven of the children are seriously injured.including one who remains in intensive care, with “multiple and traumatic injuries, including partial and complete arm amputationsmultiple crush injuries to limbs or severe lacerations to the head and body,” Bernadette McDonald, director of the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital, told the press. In addition, three of them “are receiving spinal support and are watched, very carefully, in terms of spinal injuries,” McDonald said.

The authorities have presented this Wednesday four charges for “dangerous driving causing serious injury” against the 49-year-old driver of the lorry who will appear this afternoon by video link at a hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court.

Commenting on the tragedy, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday expressed his solidarity with the victims and their families in this “extraordinarily difficult time.” “Any accident of this nature is horrible. The fact that it involves students breaks your heart, and my heart goes out to them and their families,” the president said.