HUDSON, Wis. – Two Eau Claire middle-school students were taken to a hospital after their school bus rear-ended a tanker-trailer. The injuries appeared minor, the State Patrol said. The bus driver and four other students sustained lesser injuries. Other students were unhurt. The accident was about 10:30 a.m. on the three-lane westbound approach to the Interstate 94 bridge over the St. Croix River. The Wisconsin State Patrol gave this account:
> A lane was closed for construction.
> A car stopped to let another vehicle merge in, causing traffic to slow suddenly.
> The school bus rear-ended the tanker trailer, which was empty.
The students were from the DeLong Middle School in Eau Claire. They were on one of two buses for a 180-mile roundtrip to the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis.
Field trip. Students were on one of two buses for a 180-mile roundtrip to the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. Image: Wisconsin State Patrol