7-Year-Old Girl, School Bus Driver Killed In Crash With Utility Truck

Two people are dead, including a 7-year-old child, after a school bus collided with an electric utility truck in southeastern Tennessee, the state highway patrol said.

A crash in Meigs County, just north of Chattanooga, involving a bus and a utility service vehicle left a 7-year-old girl and the bus driver dead, according to police. There were 22 children on board at the time of the crash. Five of those were airlifted to a regional hospital and two others were taken away by ambulance.

"This is a very tough day," county Director of Schools Clint Baker said. "Never in your wildest dreams when you go out the door in the morning do you think you'll deal with something like this."

One of the children on the bus described a gruesome crash scene, adding there was “nothing but screaming and crying.”

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a statement posted through her Twitter account that she was praying for all of those impacted by the tragedy. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee pledged support for the Meigs County community.

Drugs and alcohol were not believed to play a part in the crash. The driver of the service vehicle suffered minor injuries.