Key keywords: charter bus crash Florida 2024, Midlands high school student end-of-year trip, I-95 Florida traffic accident, student group charter bus rollover, Florida Highway Patrol crash investigation, end-of-year school trip safety, commercial passenger vehicle crash Florida A charter bus transporting 47 high school students from South Carolina’s Midlands region and 4 adult chaperones rolled over on Interstate 95 in northeastern Florida Tuesday morning, triggering a large-scale emergency response and prompting widespread concern over K-12 school trip safety ahead of the peak summer travel season. According to a preliminary report released by the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), the crash occurred at approximately 9:42 a.m. near the St. Augustine exit on the southbound lanes of I-95, when a pickup truck traveling at excessive speed attempted to cut across three lanes to exit the highway, colliding with the front left fender of the charter bus. The bus driver, a 52-year-old man with 18 years of commercial passenger vehicle driving experience, swerved to avoid a head-on collision, lost control of the vehicle, and flipped onto its right side in the highway shoulder. First responders from three local fire departments and four ambulance services arrived at the scene within 8 minutes of the first 911 call. FHP confirmed that 12 students sustained minor cuts, bruises and concussions, while 2 chaperones and the bus driver suffered moderate injuries including broken ribs and spinal sprains; all injured parties were transported to nearby Flagler Hospital and have no life-threatening conditions. The remaining 35 uninjured students were taken to a nearby community center for temporary shelter, where school district staff provided mental health support and contacted their families directly. The bus was en route to Orlando for a 3-day end-of-year graduation celebration trip, organized by the Richland County School District in South Carolina for 11th and 12th grade students with outstanding academic performance. District officials announced Tuesday afternoon that they have dispatched two emergency support teams to Florida, including mental health counselors and administrative staff, and arranged for a replacement charter bus to transport the uninjured students back to South Carolina on Wednesday morning. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a full investigation into the crash, including a review of the charter bus company’s safety records, the driver’s working hours in the 72 hours prior to the incident, and road conditions at the crash site. The southbound lanes of I-95 were closed for nearly 4 hours following the crash, causing a 12-mile traffic backup. As of Tuesday evening, all lanes have reopened to traffic.