Officials said a Kenwood Middle School bus collided with two other vehicles in Carroll County during a trip to Jackson.
HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Two students were killed and at least seven other people were injured after a school bus carrying middle school students and school staff crashed Friday around noon on Highway 70 in Carroll County, authorities said.
The crash drew a large emergency response and sent several victims to hospitals in Tennessee. Investigators were still working Friday and Saturday to determine exactly what caused the collision, which involved a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck, a Chevrolet Trailblazer and the school bus. The bus was carrying students and employees from Kenwood Middle School in Clarksville on a field trip to Jackson, school and highway patrol officials said.
Maj. Travis Plotzer of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said the crash happened at about noon on Highway 70 in west Tennessee. He said 25 students and five adults were on the bus. During a news conference, Plotzer announced that two students had died. He said the wreck was still under investigation and called it “a parent’s worst nightmare.” Early findings, he said, indicated the state transportation dump truck did not appear to have caused the crash.
Officials have not publicly identified the students who were killed. They also had not released a full breakdown of injuries by late Saturday. Authorities said at least seven other people were taken by air ambulance to hospitals. Vanderbilt Health said four patients were flown to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville and were in stable condition Friday. Kim Alexander, a spokesperson for Baptist Memorial Health Care, said 19 other people were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Carroll County, where they were evaluated and later released. It remained unclear how many of those 19 had injuries serious enough to require treatment.
The bus belonged to the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, which said it was carrying a group from Kenwood Middle School to Jackson for a field trip. In a statement, the district said all families of those on the bus had been contacted. The district described the loss as devastating for the school community. The crash happened far from Clarksville, turning what began as a school trip into a regional emergency that involved local responders, trauma teams and school officials trying to reach families across middle Tennessee.
By Saturday, the investigation was still active, with state troopers continuing to sort through the sequence of events that led to the collision. No charges had been announced, and officials had not said whether speed, mechanical trouble, road conditions or driver action played a role. The Tennessee Highway Patrol said only that the crash involved the bus, the dump truck and the Chevrolet Trailblazer, and that the exact cause remained under review. The school district said counselors would be made available when students returned, and Principal Karen Miller told families the school was facing an unimaginable tragedy.
The emotional impact spread quickly through Clarksville. Karen Miller, writing to families, said the school would support students and staff as they grieved the deaths of classmates. In west Tennessee, images from the crash scene showed emergency crews surrounding the damaged bus as helicopters and ambulances moved victims out for treatment. The wreck also prompted public statements from school leaders and community officials, who described a day of shock for families expecting an ordinary field trip. One Clarksville parent told local television that her child called from the wreckage in tears after getting off the bus.
As of Saturday, two students were confirmed dead, several others had been hospitalized and the cause of the crash had not been announced. The next major step is the completion of the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigation and any further updates from school and hospital officials.
Author note: Last updated March 28, 2026.