2 NC school bus crashes injure 23

Two crashes involving three school buses seriously injured one of the drivers Monday and sent about 20 students to hospitals Monday with minor injuries, officials said.

One bus flipped over near Greensboro early Monday, and authorities said the driver was in critical condition. Six elementary school students were taken to the hospital, but none of the injuries was considered life threatening, said Lisa Wilkerson, a spokeswoman for Moses Cone Health System.

The driver ran off the side of the road and overcorrected just before 7 a.m., said Guilford County Schools officials. The bus flipped before landing upright.

Hours later and about 115 miles southwest in Waxhaw, a school bus rear-ended another, sending 16 elementary school students to the hospital with complaints of neck and back pain. None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, said Luan Ingram, spokeswoman for Union County Public Schools.

The driver of the second bus said he had been distracted "by a student discipline issue."