The preliminary findings of a fatal Oakland, Iowa school bus fire were released on Friday. The fire broke out on a Riverside Community School District just before 7:00 AM on December 12th killing 16 year old Megan Klindt and 74 year old Donnie Hendricks.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, Hendricks was on 480th Street, a gravel road near Oakland, and turned into a driveway to pick up Klindt, his first student on the route. NTSB officials say Hendricks was backing out of the driveway when his right rear wheels crossed a three foot wide patch of dirt and dropped into a ditch.
In an attempt to get the bus unstuck from the ditch, Hendricks tried driving forward, and as he was doing so a fire started in the engine compartment of the bus. The fire then quickly spread into the passenger area of the bus and the dry grass around the bus. It is unknown as to why Hendricks and Klindt were unable to exit the bus, and both died as a result of the fire.
Investigators say the bus had been subject to three recalls, but all three were performed and did not play a role in the fire. The bus was equipped with a video recording system, but it was severely damaged in the fire and investigators were not able to recover any data from it.
All aspects of the fire remain under investigation to determine the probable cause.