Green Valley Road reopened after crash involving a school bus with kids on it

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CALIF. (KION-TV)- UPDATE 8/27 6:47pm- A fiery crash in Santa Cruz County involving a school bus leaves multiple people injured, including Pajaro Valley students.

The crash happened at 7:30 this morning, along Green Valley road north of Casserly Road.

It was shut down for hours as witnesses say a bus driver heroically helped more than 40 students off the bus.

The aftermath of this morning’s incident is still very much on everyone’s mind.

The CHP saying this head-on crash could have been much worse.

I got dressed and i came out and I saw a car had hit a bus head on, and there was smoke coming from the car and then, a little and just within a minute that a fire started," Marianne Peixoto witness said.

The CHP and firefighters responding quickly to a crash involving a school bus this morning in santa cruz county.

Crews worked quickly to help Aptos high schoolers and middle schoolers off the bus while putting out the flames.

The CHP says one of the students suffered minor injuries in the aftermath.

The quick actions of the bus driver were noticed by witnesses.

"The bus driver did such a good job, she got came out and got the kids, off the bus very quickly and I would say within a minute they were all off the bus," Peixoto said.

Residents that live in the area describe what they have seen.

"I just heard the screeching tires, and then I heard the big thump," Connie Cruz witness said. "I rushed out there because at that point, I knew that had wrecked, and it was right there in front of my pole and, it was horrible. horrible."

It's a two way street on Green Valley Road where residents say they notice many accidents have taken place.

"Unfortunately, there's a curve in the road right here, and people just drive way too fast," Peixoto said. "My neighbor across the street has had their fence taken out so many times, they stopped putting it back up. "They even left the telephone pole down on the ground, because it's at least four times that people have smashed into their fence."

Marianne emphasize, the need for increased caution in this area highlighting the danger of this road in the morning when children are present.

"There's also, you know, students that are either walking or being taken and being transported with their parents and it's just it's a busy time in the morning and people really need to slow down," Peixoto said.

The CHP says cause of the crash is under investigation and no arrests have been made.  

We reached out to Pajaro Valley Unified School district on if this will disrupt the bus routes and they say it’s not impacted and they have that route covered.

Santa Cruz CHP is investigating a two vehicle crash that shut down Green Valley Road North of Casserly Road.

According to officials officers were dispatched to an accident between one vehicle and a school bus with 43 children inside on Green Valley Road around 7:30 a.m. Only minor injuries have been reported.

For reasons still unknown at this time, the bus involved in the accident caught fire but was put out by firefighters.

This is a developing story