{"id":771058,"date":"2026-02-17T19:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/771058\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T19:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:24:23","slug":"school-bus-carrying-40-children-crashes-in-northern-ireland-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/771058\/","title":{"rendered":"School bus carrying 40 children crashes in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iCTyfe\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p><strong class=\"sc-1uza6dc-1 cglitp\">Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/bus\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bus<\/a> with school <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/children\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">children<\/a> aboard was involved in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/collision\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">collision<\/a> in Belleeks, County <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/county-armagh\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Armagh,<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/northern-ireland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Northern Ireland <\/a>on Tuesday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/psni\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Police Service of Northern Ireland<\/a> has said. <\/p>\n<p>The Northern Ireland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/ambulance\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ambulance<\/a> Service confirmed it was at the scene of a \u201csignificant incident\u201d after receiving reports of a crash at 3.38pm. <\/p>\n<p>There were five ambulances, two advanced paramedics, one officer and an ambulance doctor treating patients, it said.<\/p>\n<p>PSIS told The Independent that the injuries are thought to be minor for the children involved.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/St-Pauls-High-School-Armagh.png\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The children on the bus were students of St Paul\u2019s High School in Bessbrook\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>The children on the bus were students of St Paul\u2019s High School in Bessbrook (Google Maps)<\/p>\n<p>The children on the bus were students of St Paul\u2019s High School in Bessbrook.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to parents, Principal Daith\u00ed Murray said a \u201cserious incident\u201d occurred on school transport as pupils made their way home. <\/p>\n<p>He confirmed that all students were safe and had been collected by their parents. <\/p>\n<p>Mr Murray said: \u201cWe appreciate that this will have caused a significant shock to pupils who experienced the incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe school has sought advice and guidance from the Education Authority\u2019s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) and personnel from this team will be available to support pupils affected by the incident tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would encourage pupils, if they feel well enough, to attend school tomorrow where staff will signpost them to the support services available.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thoughts and prayers of the St Paul\u2019s community are extended to everyone affected by this serious incident today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Tullyah-Road.png\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"The collision was in the Tullyah Road area of Belleeks between Newtownhamilton and Camlough\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p>open image in gallery<\/p>\n<p>The collision was in the Tullyah Road area of Belleeks between Newtownhamilton and Camlough (Google Maps)<\/p>\n<p>Northern Ireland road and policing safety said: \u201cRoad users are advised of a collision in the Tullyah Road area of Belleeks between Newtownhamilton and Camlough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease avoid the area and seek alternative routes. An update will be issued in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newry &amp; Armagh MLA Justin McNulty, who had spoken to police, said all children have \u201cwalked away relatively unscathed,\u201d according to a report by Belfast Live. <\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cA school bus transporting children from St Paul&#8217;s High School to Whitecross crashed on the Tullyagh Road. Thankfully around 40 of them all walked away from the scene, and are home. A few of them had minor injuries but nothing serious,\u201d the news site reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen an incident involves a school bus crash, you hope the worst hasn&#8217;t happened. Thankfully, the children have all walked away relatively unscathed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More follows on this breaking news story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":["post-771058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-northern-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116087611864522621","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}