BLUE HILL -- Becky Alber was sitting on her son's porch Wednesday afternoon, waiting for the bus to deliver her granddaughter, Taylor, when she saw the sky light up in flames.
"It was like a bomb went off," she said.
Flames shot 30 to 40 feet in the air, the result of a crash involving a school bus and semitrailer that killed two students from Blue Hill Community Schools and drivers of both vehicles and injured five other students.
Alber called 911, then reached her husband, Gerald, who drove to the intersection about nine miles southeast of town. There, he saw four to five girls who had been pulled from the bus and put in a pickup. Taylor, injured but alive, was among them.
The fiery crash rocked the town of Blue Hill, about 20 miles from Hastings. Nearby radio stations allowed their listeners to offer condolences throughout the day, the gas station in town left copies of Scripture by the cash register with thoughts for those who had been killed or injured, and local pastors came together for a memorial service Thursday evening.
"We come together today to show we are one community of people who love each other and care for each other and want to support each other," United Methodist Pastor Steve Marsh said to more than 300 people who gathered for a candlelight memorial service.
They remembered four members of their community who died: Caroline Thallman, 10, and Dustin Tesdahl, 18, both of rural Blue Hill; semi driver Travis Witte, 21, of Blue Hill; and bus driver Marla Wentworth, 59, of Red Cloud. The Nebraska State Patrol said they all died at the scene.
Four students were taken to Mary Lanning hospital in Hastings. A 7-year-old boy was released after treatment; a 10-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl were admitted.
Friends said Allie Thallman, Caroline's sister, suffered cuts to her face and a deep cut to her head. Marsh said she may be released Friday.
Taylor Alber, 7, was flown to Children's Hospital in Omaha. She was undergoing surgery to put pins in two breaks in her arm, her grandparents said. She also had a collapsed lung, which doctors reinflated, and damage to her liver, which appeared to be healing, the Albers said.
A 6-year-old girl also was treated at a hospital in Superior and then released.
Children's Hospital spokeswoman Cherie Lytle said Taylor was listed in serious condition Thursday afternoon. Both children remaining at the Hastings hospital are in stable condition, according to hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brandt.
Minutes before the crash, Alber had seen the school bus and the semi piled high with hay approaching a gravel intersection from different directions.
Taylor's 22-month-old sister saw the bus, too, and starting calling, "Sissie. Sissie."
Becky prayed one, or the other, would stop. Then she saw the explosion. She can still hear the boom and see the flames when she closes her eyes.
"You're sitting there, and you know you have a grandbaby on that bus," she said.
Two men -- one of whom was spraying weeds in a nearby field -- saw the collision, too, Alber said. They ran to the scene and pulled the injured students from the burning bus.
It's unlikely any of the students would have survived without the men's help, she said.
"I saw it and I thought, 'There's not a child alive on that bus."
Travis Witte's father, Norm, had been hauling hay with his son and had arrived at their home before Travis. Then he saw smoke.
He went to the scene, scared that his younger daughter Maci, 11, would be on the bus. He learned soon from family that she took a different bus and was safe at home, said Travis' aunt, Julia Zimmerman.
Witte was driving north on Road 1800 and collided with the school bus heading east on County Road R, nearing the end of its route. The narrow gravel roads see little traffic, the Albers said. There are no stop signs at the intersection.
Gerald Alber said it appeared the semi hit the bus behind the front door, and the force pushed it into a power pole, knocking it over. Both the truck and bus ended up northeast of the intersection in a field or ditch, engulfed in flames.
The State Patrol is helping the Webster County Sheriff's Office and the Webster County attorney with the accident investigation.
"Our first concern is for the families of those affected by Wednesday's events," County Attorney Sara Bockstadter said. "Our hearts go out to everyone who has been touched by this tragedy."
Rescue crews from Blue Hill, Lawrence, Bladen and Red Cloud responded to the scene. Among the volunteer firefighters was Travis' cousin, said Susan Kohmetscher, deputy city clerk.
"That's the way with small towns. You're going to know someone," she said.
And in Blue Hill, people came into the grocery store on the main street all morning, asking for vegetable trays and sliced ham and buns, owner Deb Thramer said.
Her son, who is going to college in Hastings, was good friends with Travis. She called to tell him the news Wednesday.
"I wish he would have been here," she said. "So I could have held him."
Classes resumed Thursday at Blue Hill schools, but the day was tainted by the tragedy.
The four bus routes ran as usual, but some parents chose to drive their kids to school. Homeroom teachers read statements prepared by a crisis team.
Counselors from Blue Hill, Silver Lake, Minden, Superior and Red Cloud -- along with volunteer educators and clergy -- were available to talk to grieving students.
The school canceled activities for Thursday and still was deciding what to do with Friday's schedule.
The Blue Hill school has about 330 students in grades K-12, but fewer than half of them typically take the bus. The bus that crashed Wednesday usually carries 18 to 20 students.
At Thursday evening's service, young and old gathered to remember those who had died and pray for their families and those injured. They lit candles, sang "Amazing Grace," and talked and hugged outside the church.
Ann Auten, a principal in Hastings who lives in Blue Hill and helped out at the school all day, stood up in church to commend the staff for their work, and for the kindness students showed each other all day.
"We are richly blessed in this community," she said.
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