UPDATE: School bus carrying Shelter Island children collides with minivan Wednesday

A school bus carrying Shelter Island students collided with a minivan at the intersection of Main Road and Main Bayview Road in Southold on Wednesday afternoon, Sept.9.

The bus — from East Hampon School District — was heading east on Main Road around 3:20 p.m., past the Gulf gas station, when the crash occurred.

“According to the school bus driver, the van did not stop at the stop sign and slammed right into the the front passenger side of the bus,” Southold Police Chief Steve Grattan said.

Both drivers and one 5-year-old bus passenger were taken to Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport for minor injuries.

Six additional bus passengers were evaluated at the scene by emergency medical technicians and determined to be uninjured.

Shelter Island School Superintendent Brian Doelger, Ed.D.  told the Reporter on Friday: “The students on the bus were all Shelter Island residents who attended Peconic School and others who participated in special education programs. None of the students were enrolled at the Shelter Island School.“

The student who was transported to the hospital is a Shelter Island resident and attends Peconic School. Mr. Doelger said he went to the hospital to check on the student, but by the time he arrived, the student had already been discharged.

“I spoke with the student’s parent by phone, and he reported that the student was doing well,” Mr. Doelger said.

Mr. Doelger said that following the accident,  the students were transported to Southold Elementary School. “The East Hampton Transportation Supervisor and I went there to assist and make sure the students were safe and supported,” he said. “From there, the parents picked up their children. The reunification process was also supervised by the Southold Police Department and administrators from the Southold School District.”

Mr. Doelger said he “was very impressed by how everyone stepped up and worked together to make an understandably difficult situation as positive and reassuring as possible for the children.”