Two teens die in head-on crash with bus

TOWN OF MUKWA - A Waupaca County community is mourning after a car hit a school bus in a head-on crash.

The collision killed two teenagers and injured four others.

The State Patrol says it happened just after 10 p.m. on County Highway W, near Bean City Road. That's in the Town of Mukwa, near New London High School.

Officials say 17-year-old Yalanda Maggio of Weyauwega was driving.

She died, along with her passenger, 17-year-old Levi Johnson of New London.

"My wife and my daughter, they heard a big crash. They went down to the corner and they looked and you could tell right away it was a bad accident, they covered the car right away with a tarp,” said neighbor Bruce Krenke.

Neighbors who witnessed the scene Friday night say it has left them and a community shaken.

The car hit a school bus carrying 39 New London middle schoolers and three adults returning from a ski trip.

"There was a bus returning from some type of a ski club trip and it appears that a southbound vehicle crossed the center line and hit the bus almost head-on,” said Waupaca County Sheriff Brad Hardel at the scene.

Hardel says the crash killed Maggio and Johnson on impact. The bus driver was taken to New London Medical center, but he was treated and released.

“You never know what's going to happen,” said Krenke, shaking his head, stunned.

Krenke says he didn't know the victims. But as a parent in this close-knit community, he's feeling the loss.

“You know it's going to hit somebody hard because somebody lost their children,” he said.

Krenke says the road conditions became dicey after sundown.

"I know it's a slippery section there because the road flows back down that side again. I think speed was a factor in that car crossing the center line,” he described.

The Wisconsin State Patrol confirms speed and road conditions played a factor in the fatal crash.

Also, Maggio and Johnson weren't wearing seat belts.

As other drivers passed in daylight the next day, a piece of Maggio's Cadillac lay in a snowbank, a grim reminder of just how perilous the curve can be.

Three of the children on the school bus were also treated for minor injuries.They've also been released from the hospital.