Maybe terrorist, maybe not -- From Fox news
School Bus Missing With Up to 13 Children on Board
Thursday, January 24, 2002
OLEY, Pa. — Police were searching by helicopter Thursday for a school bus believed to have 13 children aboard that never arrived at school in the morning.
The bus had picked up the students, ages 6 through 16, at Oley Valley High School between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. for the six-mile trip to the Berks Christian School in Birdsboro.
Conditions in the area were rainy and foggy Thursday, said Oley Township Officer Becky Dinkle. The bus was to have traveled along rolling farmland on Route 662, known as Oley Turnpike Road.
The driver, Otto Nuss of Boyertown, who is in his early 60s, has worked for the company that operates the bus since September, state police Trooper Ray Albert said.
By early Thursday afternoon, police still had not been able to reach Nuss on his two-way radio.
Distraught parents arrived throughout the day at the Oley Township Municipal Building, the command center for the search.
The 48-passenger bus has "Oley Valley Schools" written on both sides, police said. The district, which is responsible for transporting private school children, contracts with the private bus company, Quigley Bus Service.
The bus had enough fuel to travel about 300 miles, said Oley Township Police Chief George Endy.
Frank Love, a teacher at Berks Christian School, said the school has about 200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. State police said they confirmed that at least 11 students, in first through ninth grades, were aboard.
Oley is in central Berks County, about 45 miles northwest of Philadelphia. |
