Minnesota students use radio to call for help after bus driver has medical emergency

Authorities in central Minnesota say students aboard a school bus used the bus radio to call for help on Tuesday afternoon after the driver had a medical emergency.

It happened just after 3 p.m. in Crow Wing County. The sheriff’s office said students on the bus noticed the 74-year-old driver wasn’t following their usual route.

“One of the 30 children on board assisted by using the bus radio to request assistance,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “The driver then stopped and let the children exit the bus in a rural area” near County Road 45, a few miles south of Brainerd.

The Brainerd Dispatch reported that the man then continued driving the empty bus, leaving the children alongside the road. Authorities located the children, unharmed, about 10 minutes later. The newspaper reported that the bus and the driver were found a couple miles away.

The driver was taken to a hospital with what the sheriff’s office said was a serious medical condition.

The children were released to their parents at the scene or transported home on other buses.