(Photo courtesy KFAB-Radio Omaha)
Federal investigators are releasing a preliminary report on a fatal bus fire in western Iowa last month.
The fire, the morning of December 12th near Oakland, in Pottawattamie County, claimed the lives of the driver, 74-year-old Donnie Hendricks and a 16-year-old student, Megan Klindt.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board say the driver, backed out of Klindt's drive way, and hit an earthen strip, causing the bus to go into a ditch and become stuck. When the driver tried to move the bus, a fire started in the engine, and spread to the rest of the bus.
Grass and vegetation at the rear of the school bus also caught fire. The NTSB report states for unknown reasons, the driver and student passenger did not exit the school bus.
Both occupants died as a result of the fire.