291   1700pt 02-06
 URGENT  
    Train-Bus 2nd Lead No Pickup
    LITTLEFIELD, Tex. (AP) - Seven elementary school pupils were
killed and 16 others were injured Tuesday afternoon when a Santa Fe
freight train collided with their school bus, authorities said.
    In addition to the children, the bus driver also was injured.
    Police said witnesses told them the train hit the bus and sheared 
off its rear end.
    ''It was horrible,'' said Janet Welty of Hereford, who was
driving by, moments after the accident happened on U.S. 385.
    ''There were bodies of little children everywhere,'' she said.
''They all appeared to be very little.''
    A funeral home spokesman identified the dead as Edward Ortiz,
Aurora Ortiz, Diana Frausto, David Frausto, Mary Medina, Anita
Martinez and Julie Davis. Their ages were not known.
    The bus driver, identified as Artis Johnson, and one child were
reported in critical condition at Lubbock Methodist Hospital,
about 40 miles southeast of here.
    Three of the injured were taken to Littlefield Hospital and 12
to the Medical Arts Hospital, also in Littlefield. Some were treated
and released. Others were listed in ''undetermined'' condition.
    Police said the bus carried mostly children from the small
community of Fieldton, just north of Littlefield. 
    
2002pES 02-06


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