School bus collides with flatbed trailer that came unhooked west of Portland; 7 injured

BANKS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Seven people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries Friday after a school bus headed to a field trip collided with an unloaded flatbed trailer that came unhooked from a pickup truck on state Highway 6 west of Portland, Oregon State Police said.

Troopers and others responded to the reported collision around 9:20 a.m. near milepost 35, west of Banks, troopers said.

A preliminary investigation found that a 64-year-old Otis man was heading west in a Ford F-550 pickup towing the flatbed trailer when it began to fishtail uncontrollable and detached from the coupling.

The trailer then collided with the driver-side rear axle of an eastbound school bus from the Nestucca School District heading to a field trip in Portland and driven by a 51-year-old Cloverdale man, troopers said.

The school bus rotated and went into the eastbound ditch, coming to rest against an embankment wall and blocking both lanes of the highway.

There was a total of six adults, including the driver, and 31 students on the bus.

OSP said the pickup driver was cited for operating an unsafe vehicle, as he did not have the correct coupling system for the trailer.

OSP was assisted at the scene by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue and the Oregon Department of Transportation.