The middle school students from the Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf in Ewing Township, ranging in age from 11 to 15, were returning from a basketball competition at the Maryland School of the Deaf in Columbia, Md.

The accident occurred at about 7:30 p.m. in the right northbound lane of Interstate 95 in Rosedale, Md., when "for reasons currently unknown," the bus rear-ended one tractor-trailer, Maryland State Police said. Rosedale is about six miles northeast of Baltimore.

The bus driver, whom police identified as Keith Schmitt, 55, of North Plainfield, "apparently lost control of the bus" after the collision, police said. The bus then rolled backward, striking a car before being struck by a second tractor-trailer. The bus went off the highway and landed in a ditch, police said.

Schmitt remained hospitalized yesterday in serious condition at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, State Police Sgt. Thornnie Rouse said.

The students -- 12 boys and 15 girls -- along with five coaches and teachers were taken to four Baltimore-area hospitals. All but one of the students were treated and released. A new bus was chartered that same night to take them home.

The student still hospitalized was not seriously injured and his parents are now with him, said Allwin Baskin, director of business services for the 240-student Katzenbach School.

The children are members of the school's boys and girls basketball teams. The school instructs hearing-impaired children from preschool to high school age.

Stout's Charter and Bus Service of Trenton, which owned the bus, refused to comment.

The investigation is continuing and no charges have been filed, Rouse said.

By Brian T. Murray
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