A school bus carrying around 40 students and six faculty members from the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Chinatown on a field trip went up in flames on June 17 around 3 p.m. while traveling through Dorchester, sending several students to the hospital.
“It was a traumatic experience for all of them,” Richard Chang, principal of the Josiah Quincy School, told the Sampan after the fire.
The bus was in the breakdown lane heading northbound on the Southeast Expressway near Savin Hill on I-93 at the time of the fire. A state trooper driving nearby noticed smoke coming from the bus and informed the driver to pull over. Due to traffic delays, the fire truck arrived 30 minutes later. The field trip was coordinated by Hale Education and the bus was contracted through Tony’s Transportation Inc.
“Three students were taken to Children’s Hospital and one to Tufts Medical Center for observation,” said Chang, adding that they were all released the same evening. No further injuries were reported.