Seven Children Injured in Queens Bus Crash

A private van headed for a public school collided with a city bus in Queens today, injuring seven children, including a 5-year-old who was ejected through the van's window, officials said.

The 5-year-old was hospitalized in critical condition, according to a schools spokeswoman, Debra Wexler.

Police said they were questioning the van driver.

The van was carrying children ages 5 to 12.

Six were from Public School 178, also known as Holliswood Elementary School, in Jamaica, Queens. The seventh was going to a day care center, which Newsday identified as the Afro-American Parents Day Care Center in St. Albans, Queens.

The newspaper said the children's backpacks and drawings were scattered inside the van after the accident. The Department of Education sent counselors to the school to console faculty and students.

Ms. Wexler said parents had hired the private van company to drive their children to school.

All seven children were hospitalized, officials said, including an 11-year-old boy, a 5-year-old boy, and a 12-year-old girl listed in stable condition at Mary Immaculate Hospital.

NYC Transit said the driver of the Q46 bus was hospitalized in stable condition. There were no immediate report of bus passenger injuries.

The accident happened near Union Turnpike and 184th Street. An NYC Transit, spokeswoman Marisa Baldeo, said the van was rear-ended after it turned left in front of the bus, which was traveling west on the turnpike.