A youth pastor, his wife, who was eight months pregnant and a third person were killed after a bus returning from a church summer camp crashed off an Indianapolis interstate.
A total of 19 people were hurt in the accident Saturday afternoon, but health officials said early Monday that a teenager who was critically injured was now in “good condition.”
Thirty-seven passengers were on the bus when it overturned just a mile from the Colonial Hills Baptist Church, where the bus was headed, according to The Associated Press.
On Sunday, church deacon Jeff Leffew identified the deceased as youth pastor Chad Phelps and his wife, Courtney, who was eight months pregnant. Both were in their mid-20s, Leffew said.
The third victim was identified as Tonya Weindorf, 51, he said. Weindorf had taken her son, who has special needs, to the church camp.
According to Leffew, the Phelps’ 2-year-old son was briefly held at a hospital before being released. Weindorf’s son remains among the hospitalized, the church deacon said Sunday.
Leffew, 44, of Fishers, Ind., who had sent four daughters to the camp, said the children on the bus “saw some difficult things” that they’d never had to experience before. “Their biggest pain is what they saw,” he told The AP
“All these folks are special to us as members here, as friends. Our church grieves now,” he told NBC station WTHR. “They’re with God in heaven. We know that without a doubt, but we grieve the fact they’re not here with us. We miss them. We ask for your prayer and support. We ask for your respect for the families that have lost loved ones.”
Witnesses told police that the bus was exiting I-465 and trying to make a left onto southbound Keystone Avenue, WTHR reported. The bus driver later told a witness that his brakes failed, WTHR said
